Real
by Musicunderground
Summary: With You-Know-Who out in the open, life has suddenly got harder.  People don't trust each other. And even though Weasley's Wizard Wheezes is thriving, so is St Mungo's. Time for Mia to learn what life in the real world is like… George/OC
1. The Shop and The Results

**I'm back! Welcome to the sequel of Balance. Set during Half Blood Prince and blah, blah, blah**

**Hope you had a nice Christmas! And if you don't celebrate Christmas… hope you're ok!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter… but I do own Mia! Oh, and her parents.**

Chapter 1: The Shop and The Results

The fog that was swirling around in the garden curled into the kitchen through the open windows, giving the house an unnatural chill. The sun that _should_ be shining- seeing as it was the middle of summer- was sitting behind the clouds.

Mia Homing sighed irritably, stood up and slammed the windows shut, before sitting back down and shoving another spoonful of cereal into her mouth. When she'd finished, she let her spoon clang in her bowl loudly. The dreary weather had put her in a bad mood for most of the holiday. Of course, she knew it wasn't actually the _weather_- it was the Dementors. She'd seen one whilst she'd been in London with her cousin, Jess. They'd been in Piccadilly Circus, and a Dementor had just… drifted past them. She'd stopped dead, her eyes following it. For a second, she had wondered why none of the Muggles were staring at it. Then she remembered Muggles couldn't see Dementors.

"Mia? What's wrong?" her mother asked, entering the kitchen. Mia looked up at her, resting her chin in her hand, then she shook her head.

"Don't worry," she sighed, "you wouldn't understand, anyway." She stood up and flicked her wand, sending the bowl into the sink. Then she strode past her mother, and up to her room.

The floor was scattered with various copies of the Daily Prophet, letters from friends and leaflets sent out by the Ministry. She kicked a page with a picture of the new Minister for Magic, Rufus Scrimgeour, under her bed-side table and threw herself down onto the bed. She flicked her wand, turning the radio on. The dull, bored voice of the news reader flowed over to her. She turned it back off and looked out of her window, sighing. Someone knocked quietly on her door.

"What?" she called. Her mum opened the door.

"I thought you were going to visit that shop your friends owned?" Mia jumped up off the bed.

"Damn, how could I forget that?" she asked- more to herself then to her mum. She pulled on some heeled boots and threw on a jacket. "Be back by four!" she called, before grabbing her wand and Apperating to Diagon Alley.

She stumbled slightly as she appeared, wondering if she'd gotten the right place. When she spotted Gringotts Bank towering above all the other shops, she knew she had. She licked her lips. Diagon Alley had become just as dark and dreary as the rest of England. Many of the shops around her were boarded up, or had their windows smashed. The ones that still seemed to be open had large posters stuck to the windows. The ugly face of a Death Eater scowled at her, and she shied away slightly. She started to walk down the cobble-stoned street, passing several small stalls.

"Want one of these, Miss?" one of the owners asked. She looked at him, not even bothering to see what he was selling.

"No. Don't bother me," she told him, rather rudely. Se continued down the road.

Several people passed her; they were huddled together in twos or threes. She was the only one alone. A tall witch with a pinched face glared at her as she slid into a shop. Mia glanced at her, straightening up and made her strides longer, heels clicking against the stones.

She stopped outside an apothecary. It looked as if the owner had left weeks before, leaving everything. The poster on the door showed Bellatrix Lestrange leering down at the passers by.

"Amulet for the pretty lady?" she jumped round and grabbed her wand, pointing it at the short man who was holding s swinging necklace.

"I don't _care_ about your stupid charms," she spat, stalking away.

She continued along, keeping an eye out for Weasley's Wizard Wheezes. She passed a woman saying to her friend, "They'll attract attention to themselves, they will. With a shop that bright!"

"I know," her friend her replied, "too bright to be living safe, if you ask me!" the other woman went to say something, but stopped when she saw Mia watching them. They walked away to continue their conversation elsewhere. Mia carried on… and then stopped.

She stared up at the bright shop. The colourful, spinning, flashing, noisy products in the windows confused her eyes, making her blink more then usual. She blew a strand of mousy brown hair out of her face, pushing it back impatiently when it just fell back in the same place.

"Excuse me, but you're, um, you're blocking the doorway," someone behind her said.

"Oh, sorry," she muttered, and then marched through the door. The noise hit her instantly. There was a girl screeching with laughter somewhere, and next to her a boy was trying to hide something- obviously a product he'd broken.

She made her way through the crowd, looking out for Fred or George. She passed a group of girls ogling at some furry round balls. She managed to push her way to the middle of the shop.

"Hm, I'm not quite sure what's wrong with it…" a small blonde witch wearing bright magenta robes was looking over something whilst a little boy was jumping up and down, trying to see what she was doing. "Ah yes, you need to slid this thing here, see," the witch bent down and showed the boy.

"Ok!" he nodded and grabbed the object, running off. A woman a little way away said something, and he ran back, thanking the blonde witch, before leaving again.

"'Scuse me?" Mia asked, "but, do you work here?" the blonde woman looked up at her, smiling politely.

"Yes, I do. How can I help you?" _Very polite_, Mia thought.

"Yeah, I'm looking for Fred and George," she replied. The blonde woman paused for a second.

"Mr Weasley and Mr Weasley?"

"Um… yeah, sure," the only time Mia had ever heard Fred or George called 'Mr Weasley' was when teachers snapped at them. The blonde tipped her head to the side.

"Can I ask why?" she said, still sounding very polite.

"Uh, yeah, I'm a friend of theirs… Mia Homing…" she introduced herself. The blonde nodded, then scurried through the crowd.

Fred, who had just finished telling someone where to find the Extendable Ears, was interrupted by Verity, the girl he and George had employed a few weeks after starting up the shop.

"Sorry, Mr Weasley, but there's a girl here looking for you. She says her name's Mia Homing." He grinned instantly.

"Where is she?" he asked.

"Just back there and around the corner," Verity pointed behind her.

"Thanks, Verity," he strode past her.

Mia stood waiting for a minute, then whipped around at, "MIA!" she beamed at Fred, pushing past a man to get to him, then pulled him into a hug.

"I don't believe it!" she exclaimed, "it's practically deserted outside and then in here… it's packed!"

"Business soared first day we opened. Gotta be the most successful shop in Diagon Alley right now!"

"Yes, well," she replied dryly, "that _must_ be an accomplishment. What with _all_ of the competition," she rolled her eyes. Fred smirked and then his eyes flicked to a spot just behind her. "I'll see you in a sec," he slipped away and Mia smiled, turning around.

"Hi," she said to George. He smiled down at her.

"Hell-o," he rested his arms on her shoulders, around her neck, "how're you?" Mia rolled her eyes.

"Very good. You alright?" she wrapped her arms around him.

"Yep," he replied, "and the shops coming along nicely," he nodded around. She rolled her eyes.

"Really? I hadn't noticed," she smirked.

George ducked his head, but before their lips touched, Fred yelled, "OI! Public place!" he popped up next to them and pushed them apart. Mia rolled her eyes again, and crossed her arms.

"Hows your summer been?" George asked.

"Alright," she shrugged, then lowered her voice, "the Dementors were flying 'round London when I was staying with Jess. Worst week I ever spent with her." She frowned a bit. Fred and George looked at each other.

"What did Jess think was happening?" Fred asked, and Mia shrugged again.

"Guess she just thought it was a weird summer… told her I was a bit ill when I was there and that's why I was a bit down." She sighed.

"Mr Weasley!" the blonde witch turned up again, "one of the customers has broken the Reusable Hangman used for display." Fred groaned.

"'S third time that's happened!" he muttered, before walking off.

"Verity, you met Mia?" George asked.

"Very briefly," she said, "Earlier when she asked to see you," then she looked at Mia again, "hi," she held out her hand.

"Nice to meet ya," Mia replied, shaking her hand.

"You wanna tour of the shop?" George asked.

"Well, I think I've seen most of it when I was looking for you, but go on then."

George took her around the shop, with Fred joining them a few minutes later. Sometimes, one of the twins would disappear to help a customer, and tuned up again a few minutes later. Mia smirked when they showed her the section on Muggle tricks.

"You'd better give me a share of the money sold from…" she ran her finger along to a few of the card tricks, "these ones."

"Why?" Fred cried, indignantly.

"'Cause _I _was the one that taught 'em to ya!" she laughed. She then glanced at her watch. "Oh, crap! I told my mum I'd be back by four!" it was half past. "I'll see ya later." She started to make her way back through the shop, and George caught up with her. "What you doing?"

"Fred interrupted something earlier," he smirked.

As soon as they left the shop, George dragged her away from the window and pulled her up into a kiss. She grinned and placed one hand on the back of his neck, and the other on his shoulder, pulling him closer. He started to push her back slightly, moving forward with her when…

"OI! PUBLIC PLACE!" they jumped apart and saw Fred poking his head out of the door.

"Ain't very public," she muttered, "hardly anyone here! Anyway," she looked at the twins, "I'll see you later," then she Disapparated.

About a week later, Mia was flicking through a copy of a Muggle magazine on her bed. She'd been to the shop a few more times since the first. She looked up when there was a tapping at her window. Her stomach dropped. Perched on the windowsill was an owl with a letter tied to its leg. She stared at it for a minute, the slid off her bed, letting the magazine fall to the floor. She licked her lips as she opened the window.

"MUM! DAD!" she yelled, as she untied the letter. Her parents entered her room.

"Yes?" her mother asked. She licked her lips again.

"They're my results," she replied, almost whispering. She was still looking at the owl as split the envelope a tiny bit.

"Well, lets see how you've done," her dad said. She turned around slowly and continued to rip open the envelope. Finally, she slid the parchment out and unfolded it. She licked her lips again, still looking at her parents. Slowly, she dropped her eyes to the parchment.

_Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests Results_

_Pass Grades:_

_Outstanding (O)_

_Exceeds Expectations (E)_

_Acceptable (A)_

_Fail Grades:_

_Poor (P)_

_Dreadful (D)_

_Troll (T)_

_Mia Tonya Homing has achieved:_

_Charms: E_

_Defence Against the Dark Arts: E_

_Herbology: E_

_Potions: O_

_Transfiguration: E_

She licked her lips and looked over then again. Four Es. Four Es and one O. One O in Potions… _Potions_! Her lips twitched once, and then spread into a wide grin. She'd done it… she had the right grades to become a Healer!

"Well?" her dad asked. She passed the results to him and together, he and her mum looked over them.

"So, this is good?" her mum asked.

"Yes!" Mia cried, "oh my god, I can be a Healer!" her smile got bigger. "I need to tell Fred and George…" she muttered, "I need to… maybe I can rub it in Fred's face…" she grabbed her results back, said a quick 'see ya' to her parents and Disapparated.

As soon as she ran into the shop, she screamed, "FRED! GEORGE!" at the top of her lungs. Several people around her looked up in alarm, but she ignored them.

"Yes?" said a bored voice from her left. She turned and saw Fred.

"I got my results!" she told him.

"Are they good"? He asked.

"Hell yeah!" she shoved the parchment into his hands and he rolled his eyes, his eyebrows going up as he read every line.

"You got an _O_ in Potions?" he asked in disbelief.

"Don't sound so surprised!" she retorted, sounding offended.

"Oi, George!" he called. "George!" he yelled again, when no one turned up. Mia rolled up her eyes and held up three fingers.

"GEORGE!" they yelled at the same time.

"I heard you the first bloody time!" George said, pushing himself past some girls. "Anyway, what's happening?" Mia snatched the results out of Fred's hands and put them George's.

"You got an O in Potions?" he asked. Mia rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"Again, with the surprised tone!" she said.

"Nah, I'm kidding-"

"'_Course_ you are," Fred muttered. George whacked his arm and went back to what he was saying.

"Well done."

"Thank you," she took the results back and shoved them in her pocket. "Anyways, I should probably go back. I left very… suddenly, and I only really wanted to gloat. Guess I'll see ya in a couple days. Later," she turned to leave and Fred nudged George.

"What?"

"Weren't you gunna ask her?" he said.

"Oh yeah…" George replied, "well, she's probably gone by now…"  
"No… she's not even out of the shop yet," Fred pointed to where she was passing the stacks of Skiving Snackboxes.

"Oh, yeah, well-"

"C'mon, George! No time to be nervous!" Fred pushed his brother forward. George rolled his eyes and made his way through the shop.

"Mia!" she paused and looked up as she reached the door.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Me and Fred were thinking… well, actually, I suggested it to him… but-"

"Spit it out, George," she said kindly, looking up at him and trying not to laugh.

"Do you… wanna come live with us?" he asked, "y'know… in the flat? Above the shop?" she pointed towards the ceiling. Mia looked up.

"Um…" she thought for a second, "yeah… yeah, sure." George grinned.

"Great! Uh… see you in a couple days?" Mia nodded.

"Yeah!" she replied, "LATER, FRED!" she yelled. He raised his hand quickly, but it looked more like a shooing motion then a wave. Mia rolled her eyes and left the shop.

**So… first chapter… hope it was ok…**

**Anyways, I've had a couple of requests for 'more action' between Mia and George… which I can promise you there will be… but I need to build up to it… I mean, George has only just asked her to live with them… but it will happen… at some point…**

**Please Review!**


	2. The Interview

**Heyy…**

**Anyways, thanks to: MarianneP, rowellylovesgryffindor, Keely Matthews, bluemickey22, MaraudersLiveOnAs, Alya Kihaku, Lobo de Fuego and the Anon for reviewing**

**Disclaimer: I only own Mia and Ava…**

**Also, I can't find any reference to who is the head Healer at St Mungo's, so I'm creating my own for now. If you do happen to know who the head Healer is, please let me know and I'll change it.**

Chapter 2: The Interview

Fred and George's flat was quite small, consisting of a living room/kitchen, Fred's bedroom, George's bedroom and the bathroom. There was a sofa and an armchair in the living room, with a small table and a lamp in the corner between them, and a few small cabinets were dotted around the room.

"And this," Fred said, walking over to a pale brown cabinet and opening the door, "belongs to you!" he grinned and Mia raised her eyebrows.

"You know, for any Healing stuff and ingredients for potions and stuff," George explained.

"Oh, right," she walked over to it.

"Yeah, I mean, I only wanted to give you the top shelf," Fred said, "but George _insisted_ you get the whole cabinet." Mia rolled her eyes. "Anyway," he carried on, "make yourself at home, considering you now live here and are probably going to make my life a living hell."

"You can count on it," she winked and him and turned back to George.

"Well, George, you gunna show her the bedroom?" Fred asked, walking around her and falling into the armchair.

"Uh… oh, right… yeah," he nodded his head, indicating that she should follow him, and opened one of the doors. Mia went in after him and closed the door behind her.

"So… this is my bed-… I mean… _our_ bedroom?" he said, looking at her. She smiled and looked around the room.

"Yeah, I guess it is…" they stood there in silence for a minute, a bit akward, and then suddenly, Mia started giggling. George looked at her for a second, then started to laugh as well.

"Oi, Mia!" Fred yelled, banging on the door.

"What?" she called back, still smirking.

"You got a letter," Fred opened the door and, holding a letter.

"Ooo!" she snatched the letter from his hands and flipped it over. Just as she'd hoped, there was a wax seal with a wand a bone crossed over. She slit it open and unfolded the parchment.

"What is it?" Fred asked.

"Shh!" she said sharply as she started to read.

_Dear Miss Homing,_

_Upon receiving your letter, we are pleased to say that we have considered you for an interview. Please report to St Mungo's in two days time at ten o'clock am._

_Hoping you are well,  
__Ava Tompkin,  
__Head Healer of St Mungo's Hospital of Magical Maladies and Injuries_

"Yes!" she grinned.

"What is it?" Fred asked, impatiently.

"It's from St Mungo's," she replied.

"Why have you got a letter from St Mungo's?" Mia stared at him incredulously, then rolled her eyes.

"Well, I sent a letter to them the other day asking for a job, didn't I?"

"Did you?" again, Mia stared at him.

"Yes!"

"Oh… right…" again, Mia rolled her eyes.

"Oh my god…" she muttered under her breath.

That night, George was sitting on his bed and Mia was standing by the door, with her arms crossed. George looked up at her. "Well?" he asked. Her wide eyes flicked to him.

"Well, what?" she asked. The corner of his lips quirked upwards.

"You gunna fall asleep standing up?" Mia licked her lips and smiled, slightly nervously.

"Right… um…"

"C'mon," he said casually. She licked her lips again and started forward. Slowly, she sat down on the bed and slid her legs under the covers. He put his hand over hers and she lay down next to him. He wrapped his arm around her , pulling her closer, and she smiled. Slowly, she let her eyes close and she sighed.

"This is… odd," she whispered. George smiled.

"In a good or bad way?" he replied, just as quietly.

"Good…"

A couple days later, Mia stood in the middle of the living room. "So remind me again," she said to Fred and George, who were lounging on the sofa, "I tell the dummy why I'm there, it nods and then I walk through the glass."

"For the fiftieth time today, Mia, _yes_!" Fred said.

"Sorry," she sighed, "I'm just… worried," she licked her lips.

"About what?" Fred asked. She looked art him, shaking her head.

"I don't know." She checked her watch. "I guess I should go…"

"Good luck!" Fred grinned. Somehow, this made her feel worse.

"Even though you don't need it," George said. She nodded once before Disapparating

She appeared on a busy street, in front of a rather pathetic looking store with dusty windows and a sign saying 'Closed for Refurbishment' on the door. She looked up at one of the dummies and waited for a small boy and his father to pass before leaning towards the window. "Um… hi… I'm here for an interview…" she licked her lips and waited a second before the dummy nodded. She let out a breath and looked around quickly before stepping through the glass.

She looked around the large room. There were loads of people standing around or sitting on chairs. She passed one woman who was fretting over her neck, which looked green and scaly. A man had his hand clamped over his mouth. There was a couple trying to quieten a crying child, who had something pink and feathery attached to her arm. Two wizards dressed in green robes with a picture of a crossed wand and bone, walked past her. Healers. She watched them round and corner with wide eyes. She looked around, then walked up to a desk with a sign saying 'Enquires'.

She listened as a few people in front of her were sent to Spell Damage on the fourth floor. "And what's wrong with you?" the witch at the desk asked boredly.

"Um… I'm here to see Ava Tompkin… for an interview…" Mia replied. The woman looked up at her for a second.

"Yeah, you wanna go through there," she said, pointing to a shiny wooden door, "but knock before you open."

"Thanks."

"Uh-huh…" the woman said, before asking an old man, "what happened to you?"

Mia knocked on the door quickly and waited. "Yes?" a voice called. Licking her lips, she opened the door and entered the very neat, clean office. "You must be Miss Homing," the woman sitting behind a desk asked. She had a thin face with chin length, blonde hair that looked like it had been cut with the scissors following the edge of a ruler, and thin eyes.

"Yes," Mia replied, "and you're Mrs Ava Tompkin?"

"_Miss_ Ava Tompkin," she corrected, "but yes. Sit down." She gestured careless to a chair in front of the desk and Mia slowly sat. Ava Tompkin started searching through a pile of parchment.

"Now, from what I understand you wish to apply for a job here?" she asked.

"Yes," Mia replied quickly. Ava whipped a piece of parchment from the middle of the stack and read through it.

"Yes, here it is. The letter you sent," she muttered, more to herself then to Mia, "you enclosed a copy of your NEWT results… four Es and an O in potions… impressive… yes… you're lucky, Miss Homing." Mia looked at her with a slightly confused expression.

"Lucky?" she asked.

"Yes," Ava replied, "we are so busy… if you had applied any other time, I'm sure it would've taken longer to employ you… but we're in such need of Healers, now." She continued to read through the letter, "It says here you wish to specialise in Creature Induced Injuries?"

"Yes." Mia replied.

"And how old are you?" Ava asked.

"Eighteen."

"And you left Hogwarts just last summer?"

"Yes."

"I see… well, I don't see anything wrong," Ava said, scanning through the letter once more and then regarding Mia. "Welcome to St Mungo's." Mia blinked.

"That's it?"

"Yes."

"Nothing else?"

"No." Mia continued blinking.

"Um… thanks?" she offered. Ava smiled slightly.

"As I said, we are in need of more Healers," she stood up, and Mia followed suit. "You will start next Monday at nine o'clock." She held her hand out and Mia shook it.

"Thank you, Miss Tompkin," she said.

"Pleasure," Ava replied, "I shall see you on Monday."

When Mia ran back up to the flat, Fred and George looked at her in surprise. "Well that was quick," Fred commented.

"I know."

"Did you get the job?" George. Mia beamed.

"I start next Monday!"

**So… there we go… Mia has a job at St Mungo's… she's living with Fred and George… anything I missed?**

**Please Review!**


	3. St Mungo's

**Bonjour**

**With thanks to: bluemickey22, Lobo de Fuego, the Anon, rowellylovesgryffindor and I Ship Klaine Like A Boss**

**Disclaimer: I own Mia, Ava, Debbie and any other random Healers/patients that may turn up.**

**Also, I may be making up several creatures/potions for St Mungo's scenes. When I can, I will try to use ones that are actually known as being part of the Harry Potter universe, however, sometimes I may have difficulty finding one thing or another about it and it won't fit. Please bear with.**

Chapter 3: St Mungo's

On Monday morning, Fred and George looked up from where they'd been sitting at the small table placed awkwardly somewhere between the living room part of the flat and the kitchen part. Fred had brought it up the other day, saying that he thought the flat looked a little empty. Turns out all it did was make it harder to move around, but he'd already bought it, he wasn't about to get rid of it.

Mia had walked out of the bedroom in her new, green Healer robes. She'd pulled her hair back into a plait and had tried to find a pair of (relatively) sensible, shiny black boots. She looked down at the crossed bone and wand, and tugged on the material quickly, then looked up again, smiling nervously.

"Well?" she asked, holding her hands out to the side uneasily. The twins just grinned at her. After a minute, she licked her lips and let her hands fall to her sides. "what?"

"Nothing," George said.

"We're just proud of you, is all," Fred told her. Mia's eyes flicked between them.

"…Proud of me?" she asked.

"Yeah!" Fred said.

"I mean, you've been intent on being a Healer since… when was it?" George asked.

"I believe it was second year," Fred answered, "when she asked what would happen if Madam Pomfrey couldn't heal someone in the Hospital Wing."

"Oh yeah, I remember," George said, "Yeah, so you've been intent on being a Healer since we were twelve."

"And now you've finally done it!" Fred said, throwing his arms into the air dramatically, causing about half the tea in his cup to slosh out of it and fall onto the floor.

"So we're proud of you," George finally finished, then took a gulp of the coffee he was holding. Mia smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Well, I'm proud of myself too," she said, walking over to the table and grabbing a piece of toast out of Fred's hand.

"Oi!" she ignored him and took a bite out of it.

"But, I really should be going," she took another bite out of the toast, "ew, is this marmalade?" she asked.

"Yeah." She dropped it back down on the table.

"Don't want to be late!" she clapped Fred on the back, kissed George's cheek, and then Disapparated to the busy London street when St Mungo's entrance was hidden.

Once inside, she looked around nervously, licking her lips, and then, because she didn't know what else to do, she headed towards Ava's office and knocked. "Yes?" she opened the door slightly.

"Hello… Miss Tompkin?" she said, slipping into the office. Ava smiled slightly and gestured for Mia to sit down.

"Hello," Mia said again, licking her lips. Ava nodded.

"Miss Homing. Nice to see you're still willing to work here."

"Huh?" Ava sighed and started shuffling through a stack of paper work.

"A Healer last week simply walked out, and didn't come back," she frowned, "it _is_ a very stressful time… sometimes there are simply too many patients…" still searching through her paper work, she changed the subject, "Healer Deborah Ricci will help you with anything. She'll be up on the first floor- just look through all the wards…" she glanced briefly up at Mia before back down at her paper work.

"Ok…" Mia stood up, "thanks, Miss Tompkin," she left the office and looked around the large reception like area. The same podgy blonde witch who had been at the desk the other day was there again, and looked even border and ruder then before. Mia quickly passed the desk and through a pair of double doors. She slowed as she walked along the corridor, looking over the portraits and up to the candles floating just under the ceiling. Several Healers passed her, nodding quickly as they hurried around the hospital. She climbed a flight of stairs until she came to a door labelled 'Creature Induced Injuries'. She paused before going through, but slipped through the doors as two Healers came rushing up the stairs behind her.

She looked into the first door, and looked around. Two beds were occupied, and a Healer was standing over the one with a man who had greening skin was lying. "Once the colours gone down and the poisons all out of your system, you'll be able to leave!" the Healer said brightly.

"How… long…?" the man in the bed asked.

"Oh, it all depends," the Healer replied, "at the very best, possibly a week! But I'm guessing somewhere between two and three." The man in the bed groaned and the Healer gave him a potion for him to drink, then straightened up and turned around.

"Excuse me?" Mia called; "I'm looking for Deborah Ricci…" the Healer smiled.

"How can I help you?" she asked. Mia blinked.

"You're Deborah Ricci?"

"Call me Debbie," the Healer said, moving over the second bed, whose inhabitant was asleep. She left three potions, one green, one clear and one steaming, on the bedside table.

"Um… ok…" Debbie checked over the sleeping patient, she faced Mia again. she was a tall, middle-aged woman, with black hair and distinct Italian features.

"I'm guessing you're the new Healer?" Debbie asked. Mia nodded, "good… what's your name again?"

"Mia… Homing…" she replied. Debbie nodded.

"Yes, that's what Ava said" she started to leave the room, "we'll have to put you to work quickly," she continued, "we don't have enough Healers for you to be following me around all the time, but just for today should be fine… come on then, no time to dawdle." Mia stood a little dazed as Debbie swept past her, before realising she'd probably loose her if she didn't follow. She had to walk quite quickly to keep up with Debbie- who had _very_ long strides- and they entered a room about three doors down.

"Now, this ward is mainly for stings- how're we doing today Mr Harvey?" she asked a man with a rather gruesome puncture on his left cheek. "Mr Harvey here was stung by a blast-ended skwert, nasty things, and a rather large one too, from what he tells me. Well, writes, the sting doesn't allow much facial movement," she moved closer to inspect his sting, "this is Healer Homing," she told him, "she's new on the ward, tell me," she looked up at Mia, "what do you think of this?"

"Oh, um…" Mia looked at the sting, "Skwert sting… looks nearly healed for a sting… well, healed enough that he should be up and out in a few days at the most, um…" she turned his face slightly so the light fell onto it, "if you apply Desine Aculeat paste, say… three times a day? Should be a scar within a few weeks…" Debbie beamed.

"Very good, and that's exactly what we're doing!" she reached into her robes and pulled out a pot of thick, muddy looking paste and handed it to Mr Harvey. He looked slightly repulsed by the pot, but uncapped the lid and started to rub it gingerly onto the wound. They moved around the other beds before leaving the ward.

"From tomorrow you'll have to start out on your own… but if you're having any major trouble, just come and find me," Debbie said quietly as they trotted past a Healer leading some visitors into a room.

"Ok," Mia nodded, stopping to look into the room, but scurried away when one of the visitors looked up at her.

**Um… yeah, so this probably isn't my best chapter… and not a lot happened, did it? but, I promise, I DO have a chapter lined up where quite a lot happens… that'll probably chapter 5, and next chapter'll probably have Harry, Ron, Hermione and all that in visiting the shop…**

**Please Review!**


	4. A Few Visitors

**Yo…**

**Thanks to the immense reviewers: rowellylovesgryffindor, MarianneP, KeelyMatthews, Lobo de Fuego and bluemickey22**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry potter. I do own Mia. We all know that.**

Chapter 4: A Few Visitors

Mia was down in the shop, wandering around. It was her day off, so she wasn't at St Mungo's. At the moment, she was talking to Verity, who was looking after the till. Since Mia had started living with the twins, Verity had stopped the whole 'hello-how-may-I-help-you' polite act and was more like 'hey-how-you-doing'. Verity was telling Mia about her mum, who had had an accident.

"She's in St Mungo's at the moment, but she's in Spell Damage, so I doubt you'd've seen her," she said.

"Oh," Mia said, "Maybe I'll pop in one day after work," she said. She hadn't actually gotten a chance to look around the whole of St Mungo's yet, but she was planning to. Very soon.

"That'll be nice, she doesn't get many visitor 'cept me and dad- oh, sorry," she turned to a customer that had just walked up to them. Mia quirked a smile at Verity and went off to find one of the twins. She found both of them standing by the edible dark marks.

"-Pay in more then Galleons!" George was saying threateningly to a little boy.

"Dear god, George, don't scare away the little kids!" she said. Then she spotted Harry Potter standing in front of them. "When, hey, Harry! When d'you get here?"

"Just now," he replied.

"Yeah, we're giving him the tour," Fred replied, and she stared at him blankly for a second.

"You have a tour?" she asked.

"Mia," Fred said, "we gave you it when you first come here!" she stared at him for another second.

"Oh, right, yeah! Well, make sure you come and say bye when you leave," she ruffled Harry's hair and walked away. After a minute, she practically walked straight into Hermione, who was rubbing a yellow paste onto a black eye.

"Punching telescope?" she asked. Hermione stood back and blinked at her a bit.

"Mia?" she asked, "oh! Hi!" then she gasped, "did you get you're NEWT results yet?" Mia rolled her eyes. Trust Hermione to be the only person think of _results_ as a way of greeting. But she smiled anyway.

"Yeah. An E in Charms, Herbology, Transfiguration and Defence Against the Dark Arts, and then an O in Potions." They started walking through the shop.

"Oh, that's excellent! So what about St Mungo's?" Hermione asked, Mia's smile got bigger.

"Already got a job. And, if I do say so myself, I'm rather good at it," she then glances at Hermione, "what about the OWLs?"

"Oh, um," Hermione said, sounding ever-so-slightly downhearted, "an O in everything except Defence Against the Dark Arts, where I got an E." Mia let out a low whistle.

"I don't know how _anyone_ can do that," they ended up at the Patented Day-Dream Charms, where they saw Ginny looking at the various boxes.

"Hey, Ginny," Mia greeted, leaning against the shelves.

"Hi, Mia," Ginny replied, looking up for a split-second.

Fred and Harry wandered up to them, and Fred asked, "Haven't you girls found our special Wonder Witch products yet?" Mia rolled her eyes, but the other two girls didn't answer. "Follow me, ladies…"

He led them over to the bright pink counter surrounded by girls. "There you go," said Fred, "Best range of love potions you'll find anywhere."

Ginny looked around at all the girls. "Do they work?" she asked.

"Certainly they work!" Fred said, sounding a little offended, "for up to twenty-four hours at a time depending on the weight of the boy in question-"

"-and the attractiveness of the girl," George said, suddenly popping up next to Mia and slinging his arm around her shoulder. "But we're not selling them to our sister," he said, and Mia stifled a giggle. "Not when she's already got about five boys on the go from what we've-"

"Whatever you've heard from Ron is a big fat lie," Ginny said, cutting him off. "What's this?"

"Guaranteed ten-second pimple vanisher," said Fred. "Excellent on everything from boils to blackheads, but don't change the subject. Are you or are you not currently going out with a boy called Dean Thomas?"

"That really tall guy in Ron's year?" Mia asked.

"Yes, I am," Ginny replied, "And last time I looked, he was definitely one boy, not five. What are those?" she pointed to the Pygmy Puffs.

"She's got a point," Mia whispered to George, but he ignored her.

"Pygmy Puffs," he said, answering Ginny, "Miniature puffskeins, we can't breed them fast enough. So what about Michael Corner?"

"I dumped him, he was a bad loser," said Ginny, still looking at the little fury balls. "They're really cute!"

"They're fairly cuddly, yes," Fred crossed his arms, "But you're moving through boyfriends a bit fast, aren't you?"

Ginny suddenly whirled around and put her hands on her hips and Mia bit her lip to stop herself from smirking. "It's none of your business," she said, "And I'll thank you," she added angrily to Ron, who had just appeared at George's elbow, holding a load of stuff, "not to tell tales about me to these two!"

"That's three Galleons, nine Sickles, and a Knut," said Fred, looking at Ron, "Cough up."

"I'm your brother!" he replied indignantly.

"And that's our stuff you're nicking. Three Galleons, nine Sickles. I'll knock off the Knut."

"Oh, that's _so_ generous," Mia said dryly. Everyone ignored her and she rolled her eyes, slipping out from under George's arm and over to the love potions. She picked it up and slipped it into Ginny's hand.

"Just to annoy them," she said, "I'll pay," she winked and Ginny smirked.

They looked up as Ron dropped all his boxes and stuck his middle finger up at Fred, just as Mrs Weasley came around the corner.

"If I see you do that again I'll jinx your fingers together," she told him.

"Mum, can I have a Pygmy Puff?" Ginny said, pocketing the love potion.

"A what?" Mrs. Weasley asked warily.

"Look, they're so sweet…" Ginny replied, sticking her fingers through the bars. Mia rolled her eyes and walked back over to the twins.

"You gave her a love potion," George stated.

"So?" she walked over to the till and dropped some coins in, to pay for it.

"Why did you give it to her?" Fred asked. Mia sighed.

"One: I trust her enough not to use it. Two," at this, she pointed at George, "_Hypocrite_," she said, exaggerating the word.

"What?" he asked, sounding insulted.

"You can't say to your sister that she isn't allowed to go out with anyone when you have your arm around me," Mia said. She looked around and saw Mr Weasley staring at amazement at the Muggle section. She gave Fred and George one last look, and trotted over to him. She opened a pack of cards and started to teach him a rather basic 'magic trick' that she'd mastered at six years old.

A little while later, Mrs Weasley pushed herself out of the crowed and moved towards them. "Have you seen Harry, Ron and Hermione?" she asked, worry pasted over her features.

"…No," Mia replied, her forehead creasing.

"I can't find them!" Mrs Weasley said, panicking. She turned and made her way back through the shop. Mia looked to Mr Weasley, but found he had already left, so she started searching the store herself. She asked Verity if she'd seen them, but she hadn't.

After what seemed like half an hour, Fred came out of the back room, pushing Ron forward with Harry and Hermione trailing behind. "MUM!" he yelled. Mrs Weasley seemed to appear instantly.

"Where have you been?" she asked sharply.

"We were in the back room!" Ron replied huffily.

"We've searched all over for you!" Mrs Weasley scolded.

"Must not of looked hard enough," Ron replied sulkily as everyone else gathered around them.

"We searched all over this shop!" Ginny said sharply.

"I even went up to the flat!" George said.

"Look," Harry said, "we've been in this back room the whole time!" everyone could tell that Mrs Weasley didn't believe them, but… where else could they have gone?

Later that night, Mia and George sat in their bed. George had his arm around her and he ran his fingers through her hair, twisting it around his fingers when they got to the end. As they went back to do the same again, she grabbed his hand and dragged it away from her head, pulling it down into her lap.

"Oi," he muttered, trying to tug his hand out of hers, but she kept hold of it. "I was doing summin."

"I can see that," she replied, but didn't let go of his hand. Instead, she ran her fingers of her other hand lightly over his palm, following the lines and creases.

He smirked and trailed his fingertips up her arm, across her shoulder, and slid his hand around her neck. She rolled her eyes but leaned forward until their lips touched and, he slid his hand away from her neck and down her back, pulling her closer. She ran her hands over his chest and let them stop on his shoulders. He traced circles on the bare skin between her top and shorts, leaving warm tingles. She shifted and pressed into him a bit more and smirked when he groaned slightly.

Just as she was sliding her hands back down his torso, there was a loud _BANG_ and they jumped apart. "OI!" Fred yelled through the wall, "SHUT THE BLOODY HELL UP!" Mia rolled her eyes and smacked the wall, before George caught her eye and they started laughing

Couple days later, Mia stumbled slightly as she Apperated outside of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, and rolled her eyes as the short, dodgy looking guy who owned one of the stalls sidled up to her. The same short, dodgy looking guy who sidled up to her everyday after she got back from work.

"Leave me alone," she muttered darkly, before striding into the shop. She waved to Fred- who was telling a woman about the different kinds of Skiving Snackboxes- and made her way behind the till to the white door. Behind the door was a short flight of stairs that led up to the flat. Before she opened the door, however, Verity came up behind her. "Mia!" she called, and Mia turned, "there's a girl here looking for you."

"… Me?"

"Mhm, she's over by the Extendible Ears," Verity turned to a paying customer and Mia slid past them, making her way past the shelves to the Extendable Ears. A black girl with long braids was looking at the prices, and stood up and turned when Mia approached her.

"Angelina!" she said, flinging her arms around her friend.

"Hey, Mia!" she pulled back and Angelina grinned.

"You wanna come up for a cuppa or summin?" Mia asked, and a slightly confused look slid over Angelina's face.

"Up?" she asked.

"Yeah, to the flat," Mia jerked her thumb upwards and turned, making her way back to behind the till.

"What… you live here now?" Angelina asked, following her.

"Yeah," she replied, looking back over shoulder as she opened the door, "close the door after you come in. Fred left it open the other day and some five year old kid almost got into the flat," she climbed the stairs and opened the other door at the top, walking into the flat.

"Bit… cluttered," Angelina said, looking around.

"Meh, you learn to live with it," Mia replied. She made her way to the kitchen and tapped the kettle with her wand, letting the water heat up. "Tea or coffee?" she asked.

"Coffee," Angelina said, sitting down at the table.

"Sugar?" Mia said, as she threw four spoonfuls into her own cup, along with a tea bag.

"Hm? Oh, one," Angelina replied. Mia poured the water in, and then slid into the seat opposite Angelina, handing her the cup.

"I see you got the job at St Mungo's," Angelina stated, nodding to Mia's robes.

"Yeah, 'bout a week ago," she smiled, sipping her tea.

"You're lucky," Angelina sighed, "I couldn't find a job anywhere on my own… ended up as a secretary type thing for one of my mum's work colleagues," she grimaced.

"Why?" Mia asked.

"Well, obviously now that everyone knows that You-Know-Who's back, their all being extra careful about who they hire," Angelina rolled her eyes, "real pain in the ass. I mean, I get that they don't want Death Eaters working for 'em and all, but, c'mon, do I look like a Death Eater?" Mia shook her head, and Angelina carried on, "so my mum asked one of the women she works with at the Ministry if she could take me on, just as an assistant slash secretary type thing. At least until I can get a proper job."

"Damn," Mia muttered.

"Yeah," Angelina agreed, sighing again, "but it's not that bad. The woman's alright- she's nice. And the work isn't too hard," her tone suddenly got much darker, "though I did run into Umbridge the other day." Mia choked on the tea she'd been drinking.

"_Umbridge_?" she spat.

"Yeah," Angelina said, distaste on her face, "still as pink as ever!" then she put on a posh, pompous voice, "she's _Senior Under-Secretary to the Minister_," she rolled her eyes and Mia started shaking her head.

"I can't believe she got back… I mean, you'd think she'd _at least_ be demoted after everything last year! But no! She gets _pro_moted!"

"I know!" Angelina replied, "Anyways," she changed the subject, "tell me about St Mungo's."

**Hmm… there we go… hope that was alright…**

**I actually **_**really**_** want to get the next chapter out quite quickly, cuz I've had the idea for **_**ages**_**, just sitting in the back of my mind. Anyways…**

**Please Review**


	5. Jeremy Thompson

**Hi**

**Thanks to: MarianneP, Lobo de Fuego, rowellylovesgryffindor, the Anon and bluemickey22 for reviewing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Harry Potter, but I do own Mia, Debbie, Stephanie, Jeremy and Michael**

**And I made up **_**Sanat**_

**Also, there are a few things I need to explain, but if I do it up here, it'll give away part of the chapter, so I'll leave it 'til the end…**

Chapter 5: Jeremy Thompson

It was the end of Mia's, and she was going down the stairs towards the double doors that lead to the reception. There was someone shrieking and crying. She creased her eyebrows and hurried down the last few steps, pushing through the doors. Then she stopped for a split second.

There was a woman standing in the middle of the reception, holding something wet and bloody. The usually rude woman who sat at the desk was no, standing in front of the woman, trying to calm her down. People were looking at them, twisting in their seats or standing up to get a better look.

"Look, we just need to know what's wrong with your son-"

"But I don't know _what's_ wrong with him!" the woman howled, clutching the wet, bloody mess closer. As Mia neared, the receptionist looked up.

"Oh! Here we go-"

"What's wrong with him!" The woman yelled at Mia. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide and hollow.

"Ok, Miss," Mia said, trying to sound calming, "if you let me take a look-"

"Tell me what's happened to him!"

"Well, if you let me have a look…" Mia held her arm out to the bloody child in the woman's arms, but she recoiled, clutching the child closer.

"Look, ma'am!" Mia snapped, and the woman flinched, "if you want to know what's wrong with your son, then I need to take a look at him!" slowly, the woman held out her son, and Mia licked her lips. "oh god…" she muttered.

She guessed he was about five or six, and he was quite small for his age. He had toffee coloured hair that was matted with blood and dirt and his clothes were completely shredded. All over his body, there were gashes in his pale skin. His bottom lip had been torn off. Most of the damage was on his torso- there was what looked like a large bite mark on his waist, and it seemed as if something had dug claws into his chest and raked them down his body. Every injury was bleeding. Some were just slightly leaking, others were gushing so much blood she was surprised he hadn't lost all of it already. His arms and legs were dangling limply- they were covered in gouges as well.

"What?" his mother asked, "_what_?"

"Look, Miss, I need to take him upstairs and make sure-"

"Make sure of _what_?" Mia slipped her arms under the boy, gently easing him out of the woman's grasp.

"I'll tell you as soon as I find out- DEBBIE!" she yelled, as she saw the other Healer coming out of the double doors. Debbie rushed over. They had a quick, whispered conversation, and then Mia finally made the woman let go of her son and rushed him back upstairs. She laid him on a bed in a (thankfully) empty ward and cleaned the blood off his body with a flick of her wand.

Several more Healers entered the room- Debbie had obviously sent them up- and circled the bed. Mia ran her fingers lightly over the bite mark, bending over and looking at it. the other Healers looked over the other rips and slashes. A short, stout witch was the first person to say, but they had all been thinking it before hand. She then rolled off a list of potions she'd need and sent a Healer in their forties to get them. Mia was given the task of informing the boy's mother.

She found her and Debbie in the tearoom on the fifth floor. The woman was clutching a cup of something that wasn't tea or coffee- probably a potion for the shock. Debbie looked up and stood, walking over to Mia. "her name's Stephanie Thompson. Haven't been able to get the name of the boy yet. But she says she found him after he was playing with his friend in the woods." Mia nodded and slid into the seat opposite Stephanie.

"Hey, Stephanie," she mumbled. Stephanie looked up with bleary eyes.

"Evening, Healer…" she let the sentence trail off.

"Mia." Stephanie nodded. "you're son-"

"Is he alive?" Stephanie asked. Mia nodded.

"Yes… but he… he was attacked… by a werewolf." Stephanie suddenly jerked up, back straight, eyes wide.

"Is it the full moon?" she asked blankly. Mia nodded again, slowly.

"We have to keep an eye on it. in case anything like this ever happens…"

"He's affected?" Stephanie asked, again, with a dull, blank expression.

"Yes. now, we can-" Mia stopped explaining what they could when Stephanie stood up, shaking slightly.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, before running out of the room. Mia sat their stunned for a second, before Debbie came back to the table, shaking her head. "its so sad when that happens…" she sighed.

"She just left," Mia muttered, "she just left her son…"

"I know," Debbie replied, "maybe its just shock… she might come back…" she sighed, "sometimes they don't…" Mia licked her lips.

"But it was her son… I mean… I get the shock and stuff… but-"

"Mia, what did you're parents' think of werewolves?" Debbie asked. Mia licked her lips again.

"They thought they were from stories and mythology. Probably still do, really…" she mused.

"Wait," Debbie said, looking at Mia closely, "are you Muggle-Born?"

"Yes," Mia said, suddenly rather defensive. Debbie chuckled.

"Then let me rephrase the question: do you know what some people think of werewolves?" Mia sighed.

"Yes," she replied. Debbie nodded.

"Hopefully she'll come back," she gestured to the door that Stephanie had disappeared through, "but maybe she won't. We'll have to keep him here for a month anyway, see how he goes, at least until after the next full moon. If she doesn't come back…" she left the words hanging in the air, not really wanting to say. Mia nodded and stood up. "I'll see you tomorrow, Debbie."

She went back down to where the boy was still lying unconscious in a bed. The short, stout Healer was still fussing over him. "we'll move him into the proper ward tomorrow," she said, catching a glimpse of Mia, "I doubt he'll wake up tonight," she finished. Mia nodded.

"I'll… be back tomorrow," she muttered pathetically, before leaving the ward.

The next day, she was doing her rounds, checking up on the patients and giving them their potions. She entered one of the wards for more serious injuries and saw a little boy with toffee coloured hair lying asleep in one of the beds. The ward was mostly empty- the only other occupied bed had a woman (who was asleep) in it who'd had a mouth full of poison spat at her by a creature at the bottom of her garden. They were still trying to find out what the creature was. Mia handed the woman the thick, gloopy liquid she was meant to rub onto the burns on her face, before moving over to the boy.

She ran her hand over his forehead, pushing the hair away. She started to put several potions on the bedside table when she heard a kind of grumble come from him. Bending down, she looked closely at his face. His eyelids started to flicker, and he shifted slightly. "Hello?" she said softly. She looked down at his arms- where the deep gashes had now formed ugly, jagged scabs- and placed her hand softly over his. "You waking up?" she asked. Finally, the boy opened his eyes, showing that they were a soft, blue colour. He squinted at her for a moment, and she smiled.

"Hi," she said.

"Who are you?" the boy asked weakly. "Where's Mum?" he started to sit up, but Mia pushed him back down.

"I'm Mia. You're in St Mungo's. I'm a Healer here," she answered, avoiding the question about his mother. The boy looked around, before looking back up to Mia.

"I hurt," he whispered. Nodding, Mia brushed his hair away from his forehead again.

"I know. Here," she held up a bottle for him to see, "it'll help you feel better." He tried to lift his arms, but caught sight of the nasty wounds, and his face froze in a look of fright. Mia put the Blood Replenishing Potion on the table and let her hands hover over his arms. He started to stutter incoherently. Mia shushed him softly. "What's your name?" he stared at her for a second, lowering his arms and putting them under the covers- so he wouldn't have to see them.

"Jeremy…"

"Jeremy Thompson?" she asked. He nodded. She licked her lips and put her hand on the lump under the cover where his hand was.

"Jeremy… you've, um-"

"Where's my mum?" he asked, cutting her off. She looked up into his light blue eyes. She couldn't tell him his mother had deserted him. She just _couldn't_! She swallowed and licked her lips again.

"She, um, she had to go to work," she prayed his mother had a job, "she just left…" Jeremy's mouth mad an 'o' shape.

"How old are you?" Mia asked, dragging the subject away from his mum.

"Five," he took a hand out from under the covers and held up five fingers, but looked at the cuts and quickly shoved it back.

"Ok," she sighed and nodded. "Um… do you know what happened?" he shook his head, making the slices crawling up his neck twist horribly.

"Do you remember anything from last night?" Jeremy looked around for a second, his mouth open slightly as he thought.

"It hurt," he said quietly, pushing his arms further under the cover. Mia nodded again.

"Do you know what a werewolf is, Jeremy?" he nodded.

"Mummy doesn't like them. She says their horrible and they scare her." Mia bit her tongue. So werewolves scared his mother… so she left? She just… left? Her son. Her five year old son?

"You were attacked by a werewolf, Jeremy," she told him. He looked up at her and pulled the covers up to his chin.

"But mummy doesn't like werewolves," he told her, as if it could make it un-true. Something triggered in her brain to make this little boy believe his mother was still there. Even though she probably wasn't.

"But she likes you," Mia said, squeezing his hand under the cover, "she loves you," she licked her lips again, "she… she'll come back after work…"

"Am I a werewolf now?" he asked.

"Yes," she then pulled the covers back, "I need to look at these," she pointed to the injured on his arms. She handed him the Blood Replenishing Potion. "I want you to drink this," handing it to him, she screwed the lid off of another pot "and you need to drink this." She showed him the liquid that had a great resemblance to honey, "it will help keep away infection… normal infection…" he put the pot to his lips, but scrunched up his nose.

"It smells funny," he said.

"I know. It tastes funny too," she was just guessing, she'd never actually had to drink it, "but you need to drink it." It took him a while to finish the whole pot, and in that time, Mia had pulled out another pot. "this needs to be rubbed into your skin." she uncapped it and showed him the bluish paste called _Sanat_, before sliding it out of the pot with her fingers and taking his with the other hand. She started rubbing it into his skin, seeing the redness around the scabs receding slightly.

Watching her, Jeremy asked, "can I do it?" she looked at him, but he was looking at the _Sanat_ still on his skin.

"sure." She let go of his arm and let him massage it into his scabbed over gashes. As he was doing it, she sighed.

"You'll have a lot of scars, Jeremy…" she told him softly, "and you might end up with even more." When he'd finished rubbing it into his skin, she stood up.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I've got to go see other patients," she told him.

"Oh…" he looked a little down-hearted and she smiled, crouching down again.

"I'll come back later, yeah? Before I go home."

"Ok," he nodded, "when is my mum coming here?" her smile slipped.

"When she's finished with work…"

"But she never finishes work until really late!" Jeremy complained. Mia sighed.

"Then she'll come here then."

Later that day, Mia was having her break, when Debbie caught up with her. "I was just doing my rounds and met little Jeremy," she said, "he asked where you were."

"Really?" Mia asked.

"Yes," the Debbie sighed, "listen, Mia… we haven't been able to contact his mother…"

"Ok," Mia nodded.

"Did he tell you how old he was?"

"Five."

"Yes… um… do you know what happens if you're attacked that young?" Mia looked up.

"… What do you mean?" Debbie sighed again.

"Sometimes… if you're that young… you don't always survive the first full moon," Mia chocked on the sip of tea she'd been drinking.

"He's gunna _die_?" she almost shrieked.

She didn't think…

But Lupin was a werewolf and…

He was only _five_! He couldn't die!

"I said _sometimes_," Debbie shushed her, "but I'm just warning you…" Mia stared down into her tea. It wasn't as nice as the one her and Fred drank at home…

"We usually keep people who've been attacked by werewolves here until the next full moon… then we move them to a different ward- where they can transform. They'll've been given the Wolfsbane Potion. Once the full moon is over they're free to leave." Mia nodded, still looking into the tea.

"Well, my breaks over," she stood up and put the tea down on a small table. She tugged the sleeves of her robes up her arms as she left, ignoring the look from Debbie.

A couple days later, Mia had just finished changing Jeremy's bandages, when he said, "I haven't seen my mum yet." Mia stood, stunned for a second.

"Oh… um… sh-she came last night," she lied, "when you were asleep." Jeremy's eyes seemed to fill with understanding.

"Is she coming again tonight?" he asked. Mia nodded jerkily and the little boy grinned. She both cursed and blessed the quick, innocent belief of children. Cursed, because, if he didn't believe her, and kept going on and on about how he hand seen his mother, maybe she would have told him, and not felt so bad about lying. But then she blessed it, at least he was happy, and didn't think that his mum had deserted him…

Jeremy had been in St Mungo's for two weeks. He'd stopped asking about his mother, content with the belief that she came to visit him when he was sleeping. He slept a lot, but in odd patterns. Sometimes all through the night. Sometimes during the day. Sometimes half and half. He didn't eat much, either. He tried. He wanted to make the Healers happy. Tried to make them think he was healing. He had two favourite Healers. The one who visited him in the day, Mia, was the first one he'd met. The one who looked after him during the night, Michael, was funny and made him laugh when he couldn't sleep. The woman in the bed on the other side of the room was nice as well, but she left after a week, and then he was alone.

"Hi, Jeremy," he looked up. It was a tall Healer that looked Italian- it took him a second to remember her name was Debbie. She handed him a plate of toast and put a cup of water on his table. "Feeling hungry?" she asked.

"A little bit," he admitted, ripping the toast up into small pieces. "…where's Mia?" Debbie looked down to him.

"She's at home, it's her day off. She'll be back tomorrow."

"Oh…" he mumbled, putting a bit of toast in his mouth. Once he'd finished eating (only half of the toast, but it was better then the other day, when he only ate a few mouthfuls) Debbie undid his bandages, pasted on the _Sanat_ and put on new bandages. She then made him drink some of the honey like potion that was meant to keep away infection, before leaving again.

The next morning, Jeremy asked Mia where she lived.

"Oh, um…" she said, taken aback by the sudden question, "you know Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" she asked, and he nodded, "I live there. In the flat above it." his eyes grew wide.

"_Really_?" he asked, Mia laughed as rubbed more _Sanat_ up his arms.

"Yeah. My boyfriend's one of the owners."

"Mum took me there once!" he said excitedly, "it was really cool! I got some sweets that make your nose bleed and I gave some to mum… but then she got mad and said she wouldn't take me there again…" he trailed off, slightly sadly.

"Well, I'm sure when you get out of here your mum might take you there as a treat!" she said, she'd gotten better at pretending his mother was still there for him, "if you ask her really nicely."

"You think?" Jeremy asked. Mia nodded.

"I've gotta go see the other patients. Later, Jeremy."

Soon, it was only a week until the full moon, and Jeremy had to start drinking the Wolfsbane Potion. At first, he resisted, telling Mia that it tasted horrible and made him want to be sick. But she told him that now he was a werewolf, he would have to take it every full moon, so he might as well get used to it.

"Does it hurt?" he asked her, just a few days before. He'd stopped eating the little amount that he did, and had fallen into even more irregular sleeping patterns. The previous night, he had slept for an hour between two and three, and then fallen asleep at four in the afternoon, only to wake up at six. Mia looked at him, picking up the bottle the Wolfsbane Potion had been in.

"Yes. It does," she told him. "At least, I'm guessing it does." Jeremy looked up at her with scared eyes and she sat down on the bed. "It'll be ok, though. You've been drinking this," she held up the bottle, "so it won't be as bad as it could be. And they'll be loads of Healers there for you."

"Will you be there?" he asked.

"I… my shift will of finished by then…" she said pathetically, and licked her lips.

"But… you could still be there," Jeremy said. Again, Mia ran her tongue along her lips.

"Of course I'll be there." She told him firmly.

Finally, the night of the full moon came. Mia was pacing around the living room in the flat, licking her lips every ten seconds. Fred and George were watching her, with worried expressions. She'd told the twins about Jeremy. In fact, she gave them news about him every day, whether they wanted it or not.

"Mia… you alright?" Fred asked from the table.

"What? Yeah, I'm fine…" she trailed off.

"Jeremy'll be fine," George told her.

"Yeah… yeah, he will be…" she muttered. About an hour later, she left for T Mungo's.

Jeremy was to be moved to a ward that had been specifically made for werewolves first transformations. It was a cold, empty room, with a few windows. Although he'd been drinking the Wolfsbane Potion, he'd have to be left alone for the night. There weren't any cases of when the Potion hadn't worked… but you could never be to sure…

Mia was there when they took Jeremy to the ward. He was still quite weak- a combination of the full moon and hardly ever being out of bed for the past month- and he needed a little help walking. He gripped onto Mia's arm with one hand, and Michael's with the other. Mia hadn't ever actually met Michael- seeing as he worked the night shift- but he seemed nice enough. And Jeremy liked him. So she had a rather good first impression of him.

When they got to the ward, Jeremy looked into the room. "Do I have to go in there?" he asked. Michael crouched down.

"'Fraid so," he said, "but you'll be alright." He gave the small boy a smile.

"You're not coming in with me?" Jeremy asked.

"We can't," Michael said.

"Why?" the two Healers looked at each other and Mia bent down to their level.

"We're just not allowed…" she told him, "but we'll see you soon."  
"Yeah!" Michael grinned again, "You'll be out before you know it!"

Finally, Jeremy went into the room and the door was closed. There were several other Healers around- just a couple. Mia leaned against the wall next to the door, and Michael came and sat next to her.

"Hope he survives," he said softly.

"Oh god, don't say that!" she moaned, clutching her scalp and licking her lips. Then her head jerked up.

A horrifying, muffled snarling sound was coming from the ward. It was only muffled because of the walls, but she could still her it. She trembled as something seemed to scrape along the walls inside and pushed herself up. Inside the room, something slumped.

"What was that?" she asked. Michael looked up at her. She started to walk towards the door.

"Mia…" one of the other Healers warned. She looked up, her hand hovering over the handle. Then it dropped to her side, limply. Then she slid back down to the ground.

The night was horrible. Not a sound came from the ward. Mia stood up, paced around, sat down and repeated. _He's just asleep_, she kept telling herself, _I mean, that's the whole point on the Wolfsbane Potion,_ she licked her lips as she walked, _he's just asleep_. At about midnight, some Healers came down the corridor to relieve them and let them go home. Mia and Michael refused to leave, but the other Healers left tiredly.

Finally, another Healer came jogging down the hall. "Ok. Sun's up," he said. Michael looked to Mia, who was sitting on the ground again. She gestured to him to open the door. She heard the click of the handle… and that was it. Then Michael walked into the room. Slowly, Mia looked up, blinking wearily. She pushed herself up with one hand and went over to the door. Michael was crouched on the ground. A small hand could be seen from behind his leg.

She stood in the doorway, her mouth open slightly, her eyelids half closed. She swallowed and slowly walked forwards, falling down next to Michael.

Jeremy lay on the ground. The gashes and slices from his attack (that had been Healing) had now been ripped open from the transformation. Blood was still crying from some of the wounds. His body was oddly twisted, somewhere between wolf and human. His skin was pallid and sallow. His eyes- which were still open- were sunken and flat looking.

She lifted her hand slowly and pushed his hair off his face. Something wet and warm fell down her cheeks. She's grown close to him over the past month. A _whole_ month he'd been in her care. She'd tried to heal his wounds, lied to him about his mother, made him eat _at least_ a bite when he said he wasn't hungry… and now he was dead. Because his body couldn't handle changing into a wolf.

She wasn't sure how long they were there, but finally, she couldn't stand looking at Jeremy's body. She stood up and left the walked quickly out of the room, running her hands over her face to get rid of the tears.

She Apperated to just outside the shop, then she pushed her way through the crowd and made her way up to the flat. She fell onto the sofa. She heard the door open and close.

"Mia?" she looked up at George, who sat down next to her. She swallowed and licked her lips.

"He… he died…" she whispered.

"Oh," George muttered. She nodded as a couple more tears rolled down her cheek. He put his arm around her she pulled her legs up onto the sofa, turning her face into him.

**So, personally, I found this chapter quite important. Just because it's a magic hospital and all that, doesn't mean everyone lives. I just felt like I needed to put that point across…**

**Ok, so, some things I need to clear up. One: I don't know if you can die whilst changing into a wolf. And I don't know if age would affect it. But I think it makes sense. If your body isn't strong enough, you would survive. I **_**did**_** do some research, in case there was anything that would prove me wrong or right, but I couldn't find any.**

**Two: That was my own idea of how St Mungo's would deal with werewolves. Again, I did some research- found nothing.**

**Please Review!**


	6. Red Smoke

**Hey, guys! You good?**

**Thank you: Lobo de Fuego, bluemickey22, the Anon and Rowellylovesgryffindor for reviewing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, but I do own Mia and Debbie.**

**Also, this'll be set sometime in October**

Chapter 6: Red Smoke

"Can you stop bothering me? Please!" Mia said to the stall owner that always tried to get her to buy one of his weird necklace things. He was holding one of them up and swinging the thick 'gold' oval that hung from the end of the chain around in the air.

"This specific one will protect you against werewolves!" the man said. Mia's jaw snapped shut.

"I don't need a bit of metal to protect me." she turned around and entered the shop. It was evening, and the shop had been closed for about an hour. Shadows covered half the products, while the others were only lighted by the weak sun coming through the windows. The shop seemed a lot larger without the usual crowd and noise. She sighed and pushed open the door, making her way up the staircase and opening the second door.

Fred and George jumped as the door slammed. Mia muttered some kind of greeting before going into her and George's bedroom. She emerged a few minutes later, pulling a thin jumper over a tank top.

"What's wrong with you?" Fred asked as she tapped the kettle with her wand.

"You know that guy outside that always comes up to me after work?" Mia said, tossing a tea bag into her cup.

"Yeah…" George said

"He just tried to sell me a necklace to protect me against werewolves. _Werewolves_!" she poured the steaming water into her cup and flicked her wand, catching the milk as it flew towards her. Fred and George didn't say anything. She was still upset over Jeremy Thompson.

She took a gulp of tea and instantly heaved. Spitting it out into the sink, she pulled a face and slammed the cup down next to the kettle.

"What the hell was that?" Fred asked.

"Forgot to put the bloody sugar in," she found a spoon and dropped four lots of the sugar into the cup. Fred rolled his eyes and glanced at George, but found he was looking at Mia as she turned around again and leant against the side. Fred raised his eyebrows sighed quietly.

A few days later, Mia and Debbie were on their brake, and Mia was telling her about when she was Hogwarts.

"And it was so funny, 'cause he ran after us," she was talking about Filch, "but obviously he never caught us."

"Never?" Debbie asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Ok, so… maybe once…" Mia said, "More then once… ok, so, he caught us a good few times, but that's not the point! And then there were the three Chasers on the Quidditch team."

"Oh, yeah?" Debbie said.

"Yeah. Angelina, she came to visit me a couple months ago, I told you about her," Debbie nodded, "and then Alicia Spinnet… I remember when she spent a month in the Hospital wing 'cause a Hufflepuff shot a bludger at her…" Mia grimaced at the memory, "and then Katie Bell, she's a year younger then us, but-"

"Wait… did you just say Katie _Bell_?" Debbie asked. Mia looked at her.

"Yeah… why, do you know her?"

"Not exactly…" Debbie replied, "It's just… I heard there was a girl called Katie Bell up on the fourth floor-"

"Why?" Mia cut her off, "what happened to her?"

"Apparently she was cursed…" Mia just stared at her, her mouth slightly open. Finally, she closed and licked her lips.

"C-cursed? How?" Debbie shrugged, "how long have I got left of my break?" Mia asked, more to herself, checking her watch, "ten minutes… ok…" as she left the room, Debbie sighed and shook her head, heading back to her rounds.

Mia climbed the stairs, checking her watch every few seconds. It took her two minutes to get up to the fourth floor. "'Scuse me," she said to a Healer, "is Katie Bell up here?"

"Just down there, fourth door on the left," the Healer said without looking up.

"Ta," Mia muttered, before hurrying down the hallway. She entered the ward and, sure enough, Katie was lying in the bed.

Her eyes were closed and she was breathing evenly, but when Mia got closer, she could tell Katie was actually unconscious, and not just sleeping. "What the hell happened to you, Katie?" she asked. She knew Muggles sometimes said that talking to an unconscious person might help revive them. She wasn't sure if witches and wizards thought the same thing, but…_why not_ she thought.

"Katie?" she placed her hand lightly over Katie's. Her skin was colder then usual, and paler. "Hello?" She looked closer at the unconscious girl. Her skin was dry and her lips were slightly cracked- a few blue veins stuck out against the sallow flesh. "You're not going to wake up, are you?" Mia pulled her mouth into a sad smile, and checked her watch again. "Breaks over," then, just because, she said, "later, Katie."

When she got home, she slammed the door to the flat again. "What did the weird stall owner offer you this time?" George asked.

"Nothing, I pointed my wand at him before he could get close," she replied.

"So why do you look so… depressed?" Fred asked. Mia looked at the twins. They were sitting at the table, surrounded by pieces of parchment and random potion ingredients- obviously trying to make up a new product.

"Katie's in St Mungo's," she told them, sliding into the other chair and looking at a bit of parchment.

"What?" Fred asked, "As in… Katie?"

"Yep."

"Katie Bell?"

"Yep."

"Chaser Katie Bell."  
"_Yes_, Fred!" she snapped, then sighed and pointed to the parchment she was reading, "This'll blow up- big time. Don't try it."

"Really?" Fred read over the list.

"Why's Katie in St Mungo's?" George asked.

"She got cursed. Dunno how," Mia shrugged, "she was unconscious when I went to see her," she went to pick up a bottle of something blue, "what is this?"

"Not to sure," George replied, "but it starts smoking when you take the lid off…"

"Yeah, and the smokes bright red," Fred said, taking off the lid. A puff of red-orange smoke bellowed out of it. It was _way_ to much smoke to come from the liquid in the small bottle. It also smelled faintly of nail polish. Fred capped the bottle again and George waved his wand, making the smoke disperse and eventually disappear.

"That's not toxic, is it?" Mia asked cautiously.

"Um… I don't _think_ so," Fred said, "I guess we'll know if we wake up tomorrow and we're dead…" Mia just stared.

"Fred, we won't wake up if we're dead!" she told him. He just shrugged.

**Um… yeah… very short chapter, and probably not very good… I've had a terrible case of Writers-Block… so…**

**Also, I didn't have a better name for the chapter… so it ended up as Red Smoke… obviously…**

**Please Review**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hiyaa…**

**With thanks to: MarianneP, rowellylovesgryffindor, Lobo de Fuego and the Anon**

**Disclaimer: I only own Mia. Also, all the potion ingredients have been listed on the Harry Potter Wikia**

Chapter 7

The sky outside was looked a bit like a damp painting. It was mostly covered with heavy grey clouds, but the sun broke through in some places, giving a few spots a glistening effect.

Mia sighed, drumming her fingers along the edge of the sink. A couple of cups had been thrown into the sink, along with a plate scatted with toast crumbs. It was her day off. Fred and George were downstairs opening up the shop.

Since she'd found out Katie was in the hospital about a week previously, she'd been visiting her for a few minutes every day after work. She was still unconscious. She wasn't getting any worse… but she wasn't getting any better either.

She saw George's reflection coming up behind her and felt his arms slide around her waist. She leaned back into him and said, "I thought you were opening the shop?" his reflection smirked.

"I think Fred can unlock a door by himself," he replied. Mia shrugged, then turned around, looking up at him. She leaned back against the side and put her arms up around his neck.

He brought his head down and kissed her. His fingers trailed round to her stomach and pressed her harder against the side. She moaned slightly and he smirked, running his hands back over her waist, then slipping his fingers under the fabric of her shirt and drawing long circles over the skin of her lower back. She pushed herself up so she was sitting on the edge of the side, raking her fingers through his hair, then down the back of his neck. He traced the line of her hips with one hand, while the other continued drawing long, lazy circles over her back. One of her feet started rubbing the side of his lower leg.

Slowly, he started to pull away, and laughed quietly as she slid off the side, her arms still around his neck. "In case you've forgotten," he said slyly, "I _do_ have shop to open." He took her hands away from his neck and they fell to her side. He winked at her before slipping out the door. As it closed, Mia raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms, leaning against the side again.

A couple hours later, she went down to the shop. Verity was at the till, drumming her fingers boredly along the counter as someone tried to find the right change. She nodded at Mia as she passed, and rolled her eyes at the customer. Smiling, Mia shrugged, and moved on. Since the beginning of the school term, there had been a slight drop in customers. It was still quite full- but you actually able to walk through it without touching anybody, now. She stopped at the door as ten year old boy dragged his father in.

"Mummy wouldn't come in here last week!" the little boy moaned. His father grimaced and tripped as the boy jerked him over to the Edible Dark Marks.

Before she left, she saw Fred rounding a corner. She threw up her arm to catch his attention, the jerked her thumb to the door, mouthing '_going out_'. He nodded and she stepped out. A chilly breeze flew at her face and she winced. As she passed the stall set up meters away from the shop, the short man ambled up to her. She didn't look at him, but drew her wand slightly. He hesitated for a moment, but then went back to his shabby stall, slinging down the chain he'd been carrying.

She made her way to a small apothecary. Like most of the other shops in Diagon Alley, it had posters of Death Eaters covering up the windows. It was also so dark inside it actually looked like it had been closed. The stuff in there was really cheap- but quite good quality. She often got a few potion ingredients from there. When she entered, she stood by the door for a couple minutes, letting her eyes adjust.

By the till, the middle-aged shop owner was flicking through the Daily Prophet. He looked up as Mia entered, nodded, then went back to the paper. Mia made her way along the shelves, running her hands over the jars and bottles. She picked up a few vials of Horklump Juice, slid off a box of Ashwinder eggs and a pot of Knotgrass. She dumped then on the till and the man looked up.

"Thirteen Sickles," he said, off-headedly. She handed over the coins, and turned.

**Uuuaaagh! I have such a BAD case of writers-block! Sorry if this chapter- especially the second half- absolutely sucked. I guess you should expect slow updates- for the next couple chapters, at least- cuz it doesn't look like its going away any time soon…**

**Please Review**


	8. Numb Legs

**Um… hi… all my apologies are at the bottom…**

**So, an extra big thank you to my amazing reviewers: Lobo de Fuego, georgeweasleyisMINE (who sent me a message), bluemickey22 and the Anon.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry potter, but I do own Mia. And I made up the Punctum**

Chapter 8: Numb Legs

"Hey, Katie… um… how're you feeling?" Mia asked feebly, looking down at Katie's unconscious body. She licked her lips and smiled sadly, "don't know why I even ask you. Um…" she looked around the room, "you're parents were just here… you're mums still pretty torn up but…" she trailed off and looked back at Katie and leaned forward slightly, "c'mon Katie! Wake up!" she pleaded. Nothing happened. "I'm sure the Gryffindor Quidditch Team need you," she tried. Again, nothing happened. "What about you're NEWTs? You're meant to be doing them at the end of this year." Katie still didn't move.

Mia sighed and glanced at her watch. "Breaks over," she told the unconscious Katie, "I'll see you later." She stood up and left the ward, trotting down the stairs until she reached the Creature-Induced Injuries floor.

"How's she doing?" Debbie came up behind her. Mia glanced over to her and shrugged.

"Same as always, I guess" she muttered. Debbie looked at her for a moment, then changed the subject.

"Mrs Robinson just needs someone to look her over before she can leave, so you can do that. Also, there's a new patient in the same ward… says he was stung by a Punctum- you may wanna take a look at that," Mia nodded, as Debbie stopped outside a door, "and here's my stop." She smiled slightly and entered. Mia blew out a breath before going to see Mrs Robinson- who was in the ward a few doors down. When she entered, she saw a middle-aged woman sitting on the edge of the bed with her husband.

"Hello, Mrs Robinson," Mia said, "Mr Robinson," she nodded to the man, "I just need to check you over, then you're free to leave. So, lift up your sleeve for me. great." Mia took the woman's arm and pushed the sleeve up further. There was a pale mark stretching along her forearm, but other then that it looked fine. Mia looked at it for a second longer, then said, "Yep. Good to go."

Smiling, Mrs Robinson stood up, "thank you, Healer." Together, her and her husband left, and Mia turned to the other bed.

A young man was lying on it. Despite the ragged puncture wound leaking blood on his left thigh, he didn't look like he was in pain at all. In fact… he was just staring around the room dreamily- like he was daydreaming. That was not a good sign.

"Hello?" Mia said, slightly apprehensive, as she walked over to him. His head snapped up and he smiled slightly. Before he could say anything, she asked, "So what's your name?"

"Ben Porter," he replied.

"Ok, then" Mia said, "apparently you've been stung by a Punctum."

"Yep," be said. Mia looked down at his leg, then back to his face. She moved around the bed so she was next to his left leg.

"Right," she said briskly, "how long ago did this happen?" Ben thought for a second, and Mia raised her eyebrows impatiently.

"'bout… half hour ago?" he offered.

"And… are you in pain?" she asked. Ben looked down at his leg.

"Uh… no… I can't feel anything in my leg. Can't walk properly either." His eyebrows creased as if it had only just started worrying him. Mia licked her lips and walked back around the bed.

"I will be back in two minutes. Don't try to move that leg and don't touch it. At all." she left the ward and moved swiftly down the corridor.

She entered the room at the end of the corridor full of potions and potion ingredients. A couple other Healers were in there, and they looked up as she walked in. she grabbed several bottles and pots, then reached over the head of a shorter Healer, plucking a roll of bandages off the shelf. She left the room quickly and half ran, half walked back to the ward.

"Right, Mr Porter," Ben looked up from where he'd been daydreaming again. "I need you to drink this," she handed him a long, thin bottle of blue liquid, "this needs to be dripped into the wound," she held up a purple potion with a plastic dripper in the lid, "then this needs to be smeared over it," she placed a pot of honey like potion on the table, along with the bandages.

She looked back to Ben, then turned the bottle of purple potion upside down. Slowly, a drop of it left the lid, and fell into the wound. It started to smoke slightly. Four more drops fell out of the bottle and the smoking stopped. "Can you feel anything now?" she asked, as she uncapped the pot of honey potion labelled '_Merindoc_'.

"Uh…" Ben looked down at his leg, "no. it still feels numb. And I still can't move it." Mia closed her eyes briefly as she covered her fingers with the _Merindoc_.

"Oh, god… Mr Porter, I have a feeling you'll be here for a while." She told him as she coated his wound with the _Merindoc_.

"Why?" he asked. She looked at him. He didn't seem that worried that his legs were paralysed. He was starting to remind her vaguely of Luna Lovegood.

"Because," she said, re-capping the pot, "you can't walk. That means the poison from the Punctum has spread through you leg. That purple bottle was meant to get rid of any traces, but it spread before. I'll be back in a minute," she almost ran out of the room, taking the empty containers with her.

Back in the supply room, she grabbed some kind of tray and placed six different potions, along with three other pots of _Merindoc_. She passed Debbie as she left, but ignored her, hurrying back down to the ward. Ben looked up as she entered, his face paling ever so slightly. She dumped the tray of potions on the end of his bed and ran her finger along the tops, switching round two or three.

"Drink this," she passed him the smallest bottle. He took the cork out of the top and looked into the thin top hesitantly. "_Now_," she said impatiently. He quickly put it to his lips and down it in two gulps, coughing as he finished. "Tastes like strong fire whisky," he rasped.

"Really?" she asked vaguely, picking up a small metal tin with a sign similar to an old fashioned 'B' painted on the top. "Eat of these," she popped the lid off- revealing several thick, pale pink circles- and passed it to him. "Don't chew, just swallow," she added, then passed another flask, "one sip of this." His eyebrows rose as he did so.

"_That_ tastes like chocolate," he told her.

"To be honest, Mr Porter, I don't really care," she unscrewed yet another lid, "drink…" she counted on her fingers quickly, "five mouthfuls of that." He did as she said while she unscrewed the lid to a pot labelled Aculeat- a potion with a great resemblance to mud. She rubbed it over her fingers, grimacing at the gritty, grisly feeling, and ran it over the sting. She dug her fingers into it for a second, making sure that the Aculeat coated the insides of gash as well as the outside. When she pulled her fingers out, she noted the red blood mixing with the brown Aculeat.

Finally, just one potion was left. A tall, thin flask filled with dark green, gloopy liquid with the word 'Perum' written across it. "You need to drink _this_ in exactly one hour. If you drink it now, it will reverse the affects of the Aculeat." She placed on the bedside table. Then she stacked up the other three pots of _Merindoc_. "and you need to paste a full pot of this over that wound every twelve hours," she picked up the tray, "someone'll come 'round tomorrow with the potions you need to drink."

Ben looked up at her. "Ok… and when will I be able to feel my legs again?" she thought for a minute, and shrugged.

"Couple days at the least. But I'm guessing just under a week," she turned to leave, "and if anything else starts going numb… yell. Loud." She left the ward.

When she got back to Diagon Alley that evening, she didn't even glance at the stall owner as he came sidling up to her. She pushed the door of the shop as she stepped in, and slammed it in his face. He stood, slightly stunned for a second, before grumbling and returning to his shabby stall.

"'Ello!" she called as she entered the flat.

"We're right here, Mia, you don't need to shout." Her gaze slid over to where Fred was lounging on the sofa, and George was sitting on the armchair. The small table was cluttered with yet more slips of parchment. They were still trying to find a new product.

"Haven't blown up the flat yet, I see," she mused. As she passed Fred, she pushed his feet of the arm of the sofa, and he made a noise of irritation, before kicking them back up. She kissed George's cheek as she passed him, then slid passed the table. She walked over some parchment that had obviously fallen off, and glanced down to see the heel of her shoe had made a hole in it.

"Some bloke come in today with a Punctum sting today," she told them, tapping the kettle with her wand.

"What's a Punctum?" Fred asked. She rolled her eyes.

" A severely dangerous lizard that really ought to be made illegal. Its poison can paralyse you."

"Sounds depressing," he muttered.

"Well, he didn't look rather depressed…" she threw a teabag into the mug, "I mean, if I didn't know better, I'd say that the poison had spread to his brain."

"Why, if you didn't know better?" George asked. She looked at him.

"Well… if your brains paralysed… you'd kinda be dead," she told him.

"Right," he said casually, "I knew that."

"Uh-huh."

**Ok. I am **_**really **_**sorry! My Writers-Block took **_**forever**_** to go away! But I think I may be regaining my creativity. Hopefully.**

**Also, one of my friends went through a rather hard time. I had to be there for her.**

_**Also**_**, my internets fucking up. It goes on, off, on, off, really slow, off… you get the picture.**

_**ALSO**_**, my mothers disappointed with my grades (high C's… which are actually pretty good considering she only spoke to four teachers. And that's higher then half the year). But anyway, she's decided to limit my time on the computer and make me revise.**

**So, again, I'm sorry!**

**Please Review!**


	9. Dinner, Awkwardness and Introductions

**Yo…**

**Ok, first- to clear up any confusion- yes, I have changed my PenName. For details on why, see my profile**

**Thanks to: GeorgeWeasleyIsMINE, MarianneP, Lobo de Fuego, bluemickey22**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter – but I do own Mia, Debbie and Ava (uh… she's the head Healer, if you don't remember)**

**Also, the last chapter was set during November, so this one is gunna skip forward to around Christmas- starts on Christmas Eve**

Chapter 9: Dinner, Awkwardness and Introductions

"Remind me to book Christmas off next year!" Mia grumbled as her and Debbie trudged down the stairs. Debbie smirked and looked down at her.

"I'll make sure I do that, but I doubt Ava'll let you," she said. Mia sighed rubbed her hand across her face.

"Good point… ok, remind me to take time off 'sick'." Debbie laughed.

"Ok, yeah, I'll do that," she replied, rolling her eyes. Mia gave her a serious look.

"No, really," she said, "I don't want to deal with another guy who had doxies- _doxies_- set on him by his wife 'cause she thought he was a Death Eater. He was Christmas shopping, for crying out loud!" Debbie chuckled again, rolling up the sleeves of her robes.

When they got to the Creature-Induced Injuries floor, they bid their goodbyes and started on their rounds. When she entered the ward, she groaned as she saw yet another couple with one of them apologising over and over again to their partner. Another Healer who was in the ward tending to another patient threw a knowing look.

Finally, when Mia's shift ended, she left St Mungo's and Disapparated. She appeared outside her parents' house- where she was spending the rest of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, then she was going to the Burrow for the afternoon. She knocked on the door and was greeted by her mother, who pulled her into a hug.

"Oh, it's lovely to see you," she said.

"You too, mum," Mia replied, pulling out of the hug. Her mother grimaced slightly and Mia looked behind her, seeing one of her neighbours walking past and staring at her robes. "Ah, right…" she muttered, walking into the house. Her mum closed the door quietly behind her as Mia greeted her father. After Mia had changed into some more Muggle-like clothing, they settled into the living room.

"So… how's working at this… Hospital?" Her mum asked.

"Manic," Mia replied, stretching out her legs, "it's so busy!"

"Yeah, well, all hospitals are," her father replied. There was a few minutes of silence as some TV show started on the screen. Mia had no clue what it was- after all, the wizarding world had no idea what a TV _was_. But it looked interesting… from what she gathered it was about a bunch of people who were stuck in some island…

"Is Jess coming down?" she asked suddenly.

"No," her mum replied, looking away from the screen slowly, "the snows stopped the trains and there's no chance she'll get on the motorway." Mia frowned. There had been quite a lot of snow that year- more so then normal. Of course… she could always Apperated to Jess' flat in London. She dismissed that thought quickly- if Jess couldn't drive because of the snow, then how would Mia explain how she got there?

The next day, Mia knocked on the door to the Burrow. George opened the door and grinned down at her. "Hello," she said, "and happy Christmas." He bent down and kissed her softly.

"Oh yeah," he said when they parted "happy Christmas." Mia rolled her eyes as he let her into the house. They passed through the kitchen and saw Mrs Weasley and Ginny making lunch.

"Hey, Mia!" Ginny said as she caught sight of them.

"You alright, Ginny?" Mia asked.

"I have a headache," Ginny replied flatly. Mia furrowed her brow as George laughed quietly and Molly sent her daughter a look.

"Hi, Molly- lunch smells good."

"Well, it should be ready within an hour," Molly replied.

"Great!" Mia said, smiling. George rolled his eyes as they moved into the living room.

Mr Weasley was talking to Lupin about something, Harry, Ron and Fred were playing a game of Exploding Snap in a corner, and Bill was laughing with some blonde woman.

"Wait a sec… George is that Fleur Delacour?" she asked quietly.

"Huh?" George looked up, "oh, yeah, yeah it is." Mia blinked as they sat down with Fred, Ron and Harry.

"Hey guys," she said, still eyeing Fleur. Seeing her confusion, Fred piped up, "we told you Bill was marrying her, didn't we?"

"Um…" Mia thought for a second, chewing on her tongue, "probably… yeah… yeah you mentioned it…" Ron reshuffled the cards and dealt them around the circle, glancing to Fleur as she gave a particularly high laugh.

As they were about half way through the third game, Molly came in and announced that lunch was ready. Ron dropped his cards as he went to get up, and they exploded. He and Harry- who had been nearest to him- groaned as they rubbed their hands over their faces, making sure that nothing was singed.

Finally, everyone was sitting around the table. Mia sat between George and Ginny, and watched as Molly fixed her new, sparkly blue hat. When Harry complemented them, she beamed and said, "Fred and George gave them to me! Aren't they beautiful?"

"Well," George said, "we find we appreciate you more and more, Mum, now we're washing our own socks," Mia rolled her eyes and stabbed a bit of turkey with her fork.

"Harry, you've got a maggot in your hair," Ginny stated suddenly. Mia and Ron- who was next to Harry- looked as Ginny leant over and picked a tiny, wiggling maggot out Harry's hair. For a second, Mia thought about asking… then thought better.

"'Ow 'orrible," Fleur shuddered and Mia raised her eyebrows, going back to her turkey.

"Yes, isn't it? Gravy, Fleur?" she heard Ron say, then saw the gravy pot fall over out of the corner of her eye. She pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing, and started cutting a potato in half.

"You are as bad as zat Tonks," Fleur laughed airily, "She is always knocking-"

"I invited _dear_ Tonks to come along today," Molly said in a snappy tone, "But she wouldn't come. Have you spoken to her lately, Remus?" Mia looked up a Lupin curiously, and thought she saw him pale ever-so-slightly.

"No, I haven't been in contact with anybody very much," he said, "But Tonks has got her own family to go to, hasn't she?"

"Hmmm, maybe. I got the impression she was planning to spend Christmas alone, actually." Molly said, glaring slightly a Lupin.

"What's all that about?" she asked Ginny, who shrugged.

For a few minutes, everyone went off into their own conversations. Ginny was just telling Mia about being on the Quidditch team- and boasting slightly about how good she was- when Molly suddenly scraped her chair back stood up.

"Arthur!" she exclaimed, staring wide-eyed out of the window. "Arthur- its Percy!"

"What?"

Everyone looked outside the window. Ginny stood up so Mia leaned back on her chair to see around her. Though the glass, they could see Percy striding up the snowy yard, with his back rigidly straight. And behind him…

"Arthur, he's… he's with the Minister!" Molly said faintly.

The door opened and Percy walked in, stopping just as the door closed. The Minister stood quietly by the door as the silence stretched out. Mia let her chair fall back onto four legs, and the sound it made seemed louder then it should have. Slowly, the silence became more and more awkward.

Happy Christmas, Mother," Percy said stiffly. It was once more second before-

"Oh, Percy!" Molly almost shrieked, throwing herself into his arms.

"You must forgive this intrusion," The Minister said, "Percy and I were in the vicinity- working, you know- and he couldn't resist dropping in and seeing you all." beside her, George scoffed quietly. Next to Molly, Percy just stood with his back straight, and his gaze centred at the wall above everyone's heads.

"Please, come in, sit down, Minister!" Molly said, gesturing to the table, "Have a little purkey or some tooding… I mean-"

"No, no, my dear Molly," the Minister said easily. Mia raised her eyebrows, turning the carrot on the end of her fork around on her plate.

"I don't want to intrude," he continued, "wouldn't be here at all if Percy hadn't wanted to see you all so badly…" again, George scoffed.

"Oh, Perce!" Molly sobbed, going to kiss him.

"… We've only looked in for five minutes, so I'll have a stroll around the yard while you catch up with Percy. No, no, I assure you I don't want to butt in! Well, if anybody cared to show me your charming garden…" he looked around the table quickly, his eyes falling on Harry. "Ah, that young man's finished, why doesn't he take a stroll with me?"

Everyone suddenly looked down at him, the _real_ reason for their visit. _'That young man'?_ Mia thought, _yeah, because you REALLY don't know his name!_ She looked around the table.

"Yeah, all right," Harry said quietly as he stood up. When he passed, Lupin went to stand. "Its fine," Harry told him, then said the same to Arthur because he went to speak.

"Wonderful!" the Minister said, clapping his hands together, "We'll just take a turn around the garden, and Percy and I'll be off. Carry on, everyone!" as they left, everyone looked back to Molly and Percy.

Everyone was silent as Molly looked up at her son.

"Uh… well…" Lupin said, "I believe I've finished," he gestured to his plate- which was still half full, "I'll just… let it go down… in the living room…" he stood up and glanced around the table. Catching in, Mia stood up too.

"Yeah, me too," she said. Ginny threw a look and she shrugged slightly. She looked at Fleur, who took a second to realise what was happening, but she stood up as well. When they got into the living room, Lupin closed the door.

"Well that was awkward…" Mia muttered.

"Zat was Percy Weasley?" Fleur asked. Lupin nodded, "Bill 'as told me about 'im… 'e says that Percy left because 'e and 'is parents 'ad a fight?" again, Lupin nodded.

It was silent for a few more minutes, and the Fleur turned to Mia. "I do not believe we 'ave met… I am Fleur Delacour," she introduced.

"Yeah, I know," Mia replied flatly, at Fleur's raised eyebrow, she said, "Beauxbatons Triwizard champion?"

"Ah, of course," she smiled, "…and who are you?" now it was Mia's turn to raise her eyebrows. She glanced to Lupin- who had sunken into a chair- who just shrugged.

"I'm Mia… Homing."

"Ah, Ginny as told me about you!" Fleur exclaimed.

"Really?" Mia asked, confused.

"Yes! She says you are an 'ealer at St Mungo's… a very good one."

"_Really_?"

"Yes. You are George's girlfriend, yes?"

"Re- oh, uh… I mean, yes…"

"Personally, I could never be an 'ealer," Fleur said, "too much blood and gore," she grimaced delicately. Again, Mia raised her eyebrows and looked at Lupin, but he was taking a great interest in their unfinished Exploding Snap game.

It was a few more minutes before they heard a commotion coming from the kitchen. Slowly, Mia opened the door and poked her head out, just in time to see Percy storming passed the room, with mashed parsnip coating his glasses. She bit her lip as the Minister followed solemnly, then adopted a rather serious expression when he looked at her. When they arrived back in the kitchen, they saw that Fred, George and Ginny were holding a spoon each up in the air- as if they had just thrown something off of them.

**Ok, so… I've decided that I'm going to try and get **_**this**_** story done as soon as possible, 'cause I think I'm gunna do one set during Deathly Hallows- and I have some **_**really**_** good ideas.**

**Please Review!**


	10. The Slightly Incompetent Healer

**Hey guys**

**Thanks to my reviewers: Lobo de Fuego, MarianneP and Bellaroe**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, that belongs to JK Rowling- but I **_**do **_**own Mia, Debbie, Ava and Remiel… and I made up the Morsus**

**This chapter skips forward to February**

Chapter 10: The Slightly Incompetent Healer

"For the last time, Ma'am," Mia said through gritted teeth, "you have been _bitten_, not _stung_! And Morsus bites aren't dangerous at all!" the middle-aged woman sitting in front of her was cradling her arm- which was fully healed after Mia ran her wand over it a couple times.

"No, but you see, I'm _sure_-"

"Who's the Healer here?" Mia snapped, shoving her wand into her pocket. She turned to leave the room.

"Don't you turn your back on me!" the woman said shrilly. Rolling her eyes, Mia turned around as the woman stuck out her arm. "Don't you tell me that don't look infected to you!"

"No, Ma'am, to _me_, that looks like a scab!" Mia replied harshly, "Morsus bites are not dangerous, and you will be fine. Now, I have other patients to attend to- patients who actually _need_ tending to. I suggest you leave as quickly as possible, because someone may _need_ this bed later on." She turned on her heel, leaving the woman with a very stunned expression, and left the ward.

As she made her was down the stairs, Debbie caught onto her arm. "Ava wants to see you in her office before you go home," she said.

"It's not about that woman, is it?" Mia asked.

"What woman?" Debbie blinked. Mia twitched her hand in a 'don't worry' motion, and Debbie shook her head, "I don't know why," she said, "But just go see her. She's very busy."

"Ok, ok, I'm going!" Debbie smiled as Mia left, holding her arms out to the sides in defeat.

When she got to Ava's office, she knocked and heard a faint 'come in'. When she opened the door, Ava looked up briefly. "Mia, good. This will only take a second." She picked up a slip of parchment and read over it quickly. "We have a new Healer coming in tomorrow. He'll be shadowing you, like you did with Debbie on your first day." Mia looked down at Ava.

"But…" she said, "uh, isn't there someone else-"

"Everyone's busy, Mia," Ava said sharply, "and there _are_ some Healers here busier then you!" Mia looked down at the floor and licked her lips.

"Right," she mumbled, "sorry."

"Good," Ava replied, "His name is Remiel Marez," Mia nodded, and Ava sighed, "You can go now," she returned to shuffling through her paperwork.

Once Mia had gotten outside and closed the door, she muttered, "He'd better not be a dick."

The next day, Mia watched with an amused look as Fred and George tried to figure out what kind of guy the new Healer would be.

"I recon he'll of been a Hufflepuff at Hogwarts," Fred declared.

"Why?" Mia asked, sipping her coffee. Fred just shrugged.

"I recon he's married," George said.

"_Why_?" Mia laughed.

"No, no," Fred shook his head, "George only _hopes_ he's married- because if he's married, then he can't flirt with you." George raised his eyebrows, but went ever-so-slightly red.

"Even if he was married… that might not stop him flirting," Mia smirked.

"Huh?" George said.

"I think she means 'cheating', George," Fred said. George looked up at Mia and she laughed, placing her coffee down and sitting on his lap.

"Aw, don't worry, George, I'm not gunna cheat on ya," she rapped her arms around his neck as he raised his eyebrows.

"I should hope not," he said, amused, kissing he lips quickly.

"Blegh! Can you not _see_ me here!" Fred said from the other side of the table. Mia looked around, with a confused expression on her face, her mouth showing the slightest shadow of a smile.

"See who?" she asked, "George, can you see anyone?"

"Ha, ha, very funny," Fred replied dryly, rolling his eyes.

"I know, right?" Mia replied, hopping up from George's lap, "anyways, I gotta go… I'll tell you about him later."

She was about an hour into her shift when a very tall man in his late forties strode in. His pale brown hair was slicked back neatly and his hollow, dark grey eyes were looking around boredly. He was also wearing Healers robes.

"I'm looking for Mia Homing," he said flatly.

"That's me!" she replied, as she finished wrapping a bandage around her patients arm. She turned to the guy. "I'm guessing you're Remiel Marez?"

"Yes," he replied, in the same flat tone. She blinked.

"Ok then…" she replied, "um… you'll just be following me 'round today," she tried to remember whatever she'd done with Debbie on her first day, "on a few rounds in the wards, you know." She left the ward and Remiel turned to follow her. He had long strides and had kept adjusting them because she couldn't keep up.

"Hey, Mr Donner," Mia said cheerily as she entered ward. Like the woman yesterday, Mr Donner had been attacked by a Morsus- only _he_ had been stung, and Morsus stings were quite dangerous. "How ya feeling?" she asked. He shrugged.

"Woke up last night with a pain in my leg, but that's about it," he replied. Mia nodded.

"Ok… oh, this is Remiel," she gestured to him, "he's a new Healer, following me around. Remiel, what do you think of this?" she asked. He looked over her shoulder at Mr Donner's arm.

"A Morsus sting," he said, inspecting, "it happened a week ago." Mia looked up at him, her brow creased.

"Three days," she corrected him. Remiel raised his eyebrows.

"Must be getting the time it happened and when he's allowed out mixed up," he said, "happens a lot." Mia licked her lips and nodded. _Guess it could happen_, she though.

"Uh, here," she gave a tub and a bottle to Mr Donner, before moving to another before that was occupied.

"You have to take him off my hands, Debbie!" Mia hissed to her. They were in the supply room. Remiel was on the other side of the room, searching around the shelves.

"I'm sorry, but I can't," Debbie replied.

"He gets all these little things wrong! Just tiny things that are actually really important!" Debbie chuckled.

"Yes, well, speak any louder and he'll be able to hear you." Mia whipped around and saw Remiel striding towards her.

"I found the Sanot," he said, dully. Mia groaned in frustration and resisted the urge to pull her hair out.

"It's pronounced San_at_! Not san_ot_! San-_at_!" she told him, then turned to Debbie and mouthed, "see what I mean?" Debbie just shrugged and reached up to the top shelf.

As Mia and Remiel left the supply room, she tried her hand at starting a conversation. "So… no offence, but you seem a little old to be just starting out as a Healer…" ok, so it wasn't the best thing she could've said, but he could have at least answered. She looked up at him for a second, before trying again. "What was your last job?"

"I was at the Ministry," he replied, staring ahead.

"What did you do?" she asked. He didn't answer this time, so she asked again.

"I was in a rather low down position."

"And why did you decide to come here?" she asked. He closed his eyes slowly and breathed in before he answered.

"My boss advised me to take the position."

"Oh…" she replied, then dropped it, seeing as the conversation wasn't _actually_ going anywhere.

When she returned to the flat later that evening, the first thing she said was, "he's terrible."

"Who's terrible?" Fred asked from the table.

"_Remiel Marez_," she practically sneered the name. George, who was sitting on the sofa, tugged on her wrist and she fell onto his lap.

Fred rolled his eyes, but said, "He can't be _that_ bad!"

"Oh really?" Mia laughed dryly, then her mouth fell into a straight line, "he has no personality and I'm surprised he got the right NEWTs." She leaned her head on George's shoulder.

"What do you mean 'he has no personality'?" George asked. Mia rolled her eyes.

"Exactly that. _No personality_. He had no expression when he spoke _and_ he kept getting all these little tiny yet important things wrong! Like Sanat! He pronounced it san_ot_! I mean, _come on_! Sanat… sanot… they are two very different sounds!" she sucked in a breath as she finished her rant. From the table, Fred was trying to hold in a laugh.

"Calm down, love!" he said. Mia raised her eyebrows and crossed her arms.

"You try being shadowed by a fifty year old guy who only knows the basics of his job!"

"Find me a fifty year old guy and maybe I will!" George rolled his eyes as they carried on with their argument.

**Eh, I have a feeling their will only be a couple more chapters of this story, and there will be **_**a lot**_** of time skipping… hope you don't mind that!**

**Please Review!**


	11. The Wake Up

**Hola! - My cousins trying to get me to learn Spanish, not going so well**

**Thanks to: '-Magical Moonshine-', MarianneP, Lobo de Fuego and BlueNeutrino**

**Disclaimer: don't own Harry Potter- JK Rowling does. However, Mia? She's owned by me. As is Debbie and Remiel. Also, I made up the Pheron**

**Anyways, this chapter starts in March and goes through to April**

Chapter 11: The Wake Up

"I can't _believe_ Zonko's is closing down!" Mia said, coming out of the bedroom and pulling her hair into a loose plait.

"I know," Fred said, slightly solemnly, "still!" he brightened up, "more business opportunities for us!"

"You mean opportunities to bleed poor little kids of all their money?" Mia said, pushing the sleeves of her robes up.

"Well, that too," Fred replied. Mia rolled her eyes and downed her tea, wincing slightly at the heat.

"Right," she said, sending her cup flying to the sink with a flick from her wand, "I'll see you guys later," she kissed George's cheek quickly, "and have fun in Hogsmeade- without me!" she quirked a smile and winked at them before Disapparating.

When she arrived at St Mungo's, she passed two Healers whispering quickly together as they walked down the hall.

"-His arm!" she heard on of them say.

"But Ava wouldn't-" the second one started to say, but the first one cut him off.

"You know how desperate she is! She'll employ anyone with the right qualifications! 'Sides, I doubt she knows, 's not like he'd go parading it around!" Mia pushed the doors to the Creature-Induced Injuries floor open and walked in, shooting a confused look over her shoulder, but the Healers hadn't acknowledge her presence all the way up the stairs, and they didn't realise she'd left either.

She shrugged it off as she went around the wards, checking over injuries and giving out potions. "Morning, Rem," she said to Remiel as she entered the same ward he was in. He looked over at her with- as always- a blank expression.

"Its Rem_iel_," he corrected her. Mia shrugged.

"Whatever, Rem. You seen Mr Rowland?" she asked, gesturing to the empty bed that had been occupied when she left last night.

"I sent him home," Remiel replied, turning back to the patient he was tending to. Mia stared at the back of his head, her mouth had dropped open slightly and her eyes had widened.

"You… you sent him _home_?" she almost shrieked, "he wasn't due out for another _week_ at the least!" she strode towards him, "he still needed to take all his potions! What kind of Healer would let him out after he'd only been here for three days? _Three days_!" she looked down at Remiel's patient- a thin woman with heavy eyebrows- was staring at the two of them wide-eyed. There was a greenish tinge to her skin and her eyes looked dim and bloodshot. She also noticed Remiel was holding a pot full of a mud like potion. Slowly, she asked the woman, "Why are you here, ma'am?"

"I… I was bitten by a Pheron…" she uttered timidly. Mia closed her eyes briefly and looked up at Remiel.

"She was bitten by a Pheron… _and you're giving her Aculeat_?" she barely noticed that the patient shrunk back into her bed a bit further. Mia snatched the pot from Remiel's hand and stormed out of the room, and down the hallway. Remiel followed her.

"Do you even _have_ qualifications?" she asked, "I mean… what _was_ you're last job? Did you suck at that, too?" she pushed her way into the supply room and slammed the pot of Aculeat back in its rightful place.

"My last _real_ job," Remiel said, with a slightly dark tone, "paid _very_ well." Mia glanced at him for a second; surprised that he'd answered her in an ever-so-slightly menacing voice, instead of the bored, flat one he usually used. But she quickly recovered.

"You're last _real_ job? What's that meant to mean?" she slid a bottle sharply off the shelf, catching it before it fell to the floor. "And '_it paid well_'," she scoffed, "why'd you leave then?" Remiel raised his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes slightly. _Wow, more emotion_, Mia thought.

"My boss became… unavailable," he said the last word through gritted teeth. Mia let out a short, harsh laugh.

"_Unavailable_? What, is that another way of saying he died?" she rolled her eyes obnoxiously and turned to leave the room. Remiel's face fell back into a blank mask as he walked slowly after her.

When Mia got back to the flat later that evening, Fred and George weren't back yet. She shrugged and flicked her wand at the kettle. The water had boiled by the time she'd gotten changed and she looked around the flat again. It was weirdly silent without the twins here. They were usually in the actual flat, talking, laughing or experimenting for new products, or they were down in the shop, and she could hear the sound of customers flow up the stairs and force itself through the door.

She stared out of the window with glassy eyes while she sipped her tea. She watched a cloud shaped like a cat with only three legs drift across the darkening sky and another one merge with it just before it moved out of sight.

_SLAM!_ Mia shrieked and dropped her cup in the sink, causing it to shatter, and she whipped around. Fred and George fell onto the sofa with uncharacteristically solemn expressions on their faces. Mia glanced at her watch. It was nearly half nine.

"Um… didn't get Zonko's then?" she guessed. Fred looked up at her.

"Didn't even set foot in the store," he said. Mia cocked her head to the side.

"Why not?"

"Ron…" Fred replied. Mia dipped her eyebrows as she remembered it was his birthday today.

"Was he… not happy to see you?" she ventured.

"He didn't _see_ us, at all," George replied.

"Uh…" she wasn't quite sure how to reply to that. "Was he not in Hogsmeade?"

Fred shook his head and George said, "He was in the Hospital Wing." When Mia's mouth dropped open, they explained about the… love potion incident and that apparently the wine that Slughorn had given him had been poisoned. And that he probably would have died if Harry hadn't of shoved a Bezoar down his throat.

"Wait a minute, wait a minute, and wait a minute,"Mia said, "… Slughorn had a Bezoar?" she asked.

"Um… obviously," Fred replied.

"How many did he have?" she asked.

"I don't know!" Fred replied, "_Why_?"

"'Cause if he had a lot, I wanna know where he got them! I mean, we only have a tiny little box at St Mungo's, and we can only use them as a last resort! No, scratch that, we can only use them _after_ the last resort!" she looked back to the twins, "so how's Ron now?"

George sighed, "He was still asleep when we left."

"Still, it was funny when he said Hermione's name!" Fred butted in.

"Wait… he said Hermione's name?" Mia laughed.

"Yeah," George replied.

"Well," Mia pondered, "I've never really… thought that would happen… but now I think about it," she paused for a second, "it's entirely possible…"

"Oi, that's our brother you're talking about!" Fred called, but he laughed as well. Mia just rolled her eyes.

As March rolled into April, the weather became considerably warmer. There was more sun, and the heavy winds turned into light breezes. Mia also started to feel like she should start getting paid double for saving the patients lives- not from animal attacks, but from sloppy Healing skills. Remiel sill wasn't a very good Healer. Several times she'd asked him whether he had the right grades, and scoffed at his skills- or, lack of skills.

This was one such time. She left the ward; her eyes pointed towards the sky and gritted her teeth, and groaned when she heard Debbie call her name. "_What_?" Debbie stopped in front of her, eyebrows raised. Mia sighed.

"Sorry, what good news?" she asked. Debbie grinned.

"When's your break?" she asked.

"Now," Mia said, shrugging and checking her watch. Debbie's grin grew.

"You know that Katie Bell girl?" Mia looked at Debbie, her eyes widening.

"Is she…?" Debbie nodded vigorously.

"She's awake!" Mia stared at Debbie for a minute, before clamping her mouth shut and licking her lips, and then she pushed past Debbie and sprinted down the hall.

"'Scuse me! 'Scuse me! Yeah, sorry, mate. 'Scuse me!" she practically yelled as she ran through the hospital. She reached the ward Katie was in as a Healer was coming out. The Healer looked at Mia for a second, with a slightly shocked expression, and then shrugged. "Go on in." Mia grinned before entering the room.

Katie was propped up on some pillows, staring around the room. Her skin was still an unhealthy sallow colour, there were still horrible bags under her eyes, and her hair was still greasy, but she looked a lot better now that her eyes were actually open.

"Katie!" Mia said, shooting across the room and hugging her. Katie laughed weakly and wrapped her arms around Mia. "Oh my god, you're actually awake!" Mia said as they pulled apart.

"Uh, yeah," Katie replied.

"How do you feel?" Mia asked. Katie shrugged.

"Um," she said, "I've just had about a hundred-thousand potions, so I feel alright," she shrugged, "shattered, though. Despite the fact I've been asleep for months." Then she frowned a little bit, "shouldn't you be working?" she asked, tugging on Mia's robes.

"What? Oh, no, it's my break," she replied.

"Oh, right." It was silent for about a minute, then Mia sighed.

"You know… you're parents came here everyday…" she said, "I came here everyday… Fred and George visited a couple of times…" she licked her lips, "and you didn't wake up for any of us."

"Huh?" Katie asked, utterly confused. Mia shook her head.

"Just proving a Muggle theory wrong- apparently talking to people in a coma's meant to help." Katie smiled.

"Well, don't forget, I _was_ cursed, I think it would take a bit more then a one sided conversation to wake me up."

"Speaking of being cursed," Mia said, "what _did_ happen? Exactly?" Katie's smile fell and she shook her head.

"I don't know," she said, "I don't remember _anything_! I've been trying- so _hard_! I just _know_ Harry's going to ask me when I get back." She sighed, "I'm getting out in about a week. Then its straight back to Hogwarts to finish the year," she said dismally.

"There's still a couple Quidditch matches left, though, ain't there?" Mia asked, "I mean, you're still _technically _on the team- I'm sure Harry'll let you play! You are, like, one of the best Chasers ever." Katie laughed slightly.

"Yeah, except being out of shape, asleep for months, and there's only _one_ match left, if I'm correct." She said. Mia rolled her eyes.

"Don't be such a pessimist!" she checked her watch. "Damn, my breaks over… I'll come back later, just before I go home." Katie nodded. Just before she left, Mia turned and said, "later, Katie."

"Bye," Katie replied. Mia grinned. _Damn, it feels good to hear a reply!_

**Hmm… I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter… in a way I'm glad I finally managed to write about Katie waking up… in others… not so sure… oh well!**

**I reckon next chapter will be the last. If not that, then the one after it**

**Please Review!**


	12. Spilt Tea

**Heyy**

**Thanks to my reviewers: Lobo de Fuego, Bellaroe and bluemickey22**

**Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and everyone in it, I own Mia and Remiel**

**So, this chapter skips straight forward to Dumbledore's funeral- hey, I said there'd be a lot of time skipping**

Chapter 12: Spilt Tea

Mia turned in her chair and watched as the Hogwarts students walked down the aisles. On one side of her was Bill, who was leaning slightly on Fleur, his face covered in scars from his attack. On her other side was George. She was clasping his hand tightly, and he was running his thumb along her hand softly. She managed to catch a glimpse of Harry, Ron, Hermione and Ginny just before they sat down. She also saw Luna Lovegood helping Neville along the rows until they found two empty chairs. As she helped Neville down, she looked around at everybody with mild interest.

Mia turned back to the front and looked at the table. It was empty at the moment, but it wouldn't be for long. She'd never been to a wizard's funeral before, in fact; the only funeral she _had_ been to was her aunt's, who was a Muggle and died of cancer.

Everyone had sat down. It was silent for a moment, and then faint singing from the merpeople in the lake started. She couldn't understand the words, but it was soft and quiet. She turned around again- this time along with everyone else- to see Hagrid walking down the centre aisle, carrying something wrapped in purple velvet with gold stars. Dumbledore's body. Hagrid was crying quietly, tears falling from his face and rolling into his beard. When he reached the front, he placed Dumbledore's body softly on the table, before retreating. He blew his nose loudly, and two rows in front of Mia, a head of curly hair turned to shoot him a glare. She squeezed George's hand even tighter when she recognised Delores Umbridge.

In the lake, the merpeople stopped singing, and a small man stood up and turned to face everyone. She guessed he was the magical equivalent to a vicar or something. He started to speak- the usual stuff you got at funerals. She didn't listen to all of it. The sun and heat made her faze in and out of concentration. After the funeral, she felt bad about it, but she couldn't really help it. Sometimes, she would feel George tighten his grip slightly, or she'd do it herself.

Finally, the small man sat down and she looked around. Bill was blinking wearily, and Fleur was stroking his arm softly. George was staring straight ahead, and Fred's eyes were trailing slowly along the horizon.

Suddenly, the table and Dumbledore's body burst into flames. White, intense flames. Mia screamed, along with some other people, and almost fell off of her chair. Her other hand flew across her body and clutched at George's arm. Her eyes turning circular as the fire died down and smoke swirled into the sky. Her eyes flicked back to the table… or… the tomb. The white, marble tomb. She saw a line of arrows pass along her line of vision, and the people in the front row shrunk back as they landed in the ground at their feet. Mia turned around and thought she saw the back of a horse trotting back into the forest.

Slowly, people started to get to their feet. George turned to look at her as she swallowed. Next to her, Fleur was helping Bill stand up. "You ok?" George asked her. Mia pressed her lips together and nodded slowly.

"Yeah," her eyes drifted around the crowed, people were starting to leave. She wondered what the school would be like now Dumbledore was gone. Who would be the head? McGonagall? She was the deputy. Or would someone else be appointed? How did the head of Hogwarts even _get_ appointed?

A few days later, Mia strode into a ward at St Mungo's. Remiel was standing in a corner, tending to another patient. Since the funeral, he'd been acting a bit weirdly. Well, weirder then usual. Instead of the normal, blank expression on his face, he had adopted a small, almost creepy smirk.

"Rem, I hope you're using the right potions today!" Mia called out to him. He gave a short laugh.

"My name's Remiel," he corrected, she could almost hear the smirk in his voice. Her eyes ran from his head of slicked back hair, down to his shoes- which she saw were immaculately clean, but dull, "and I would stop lecturing me on using the right potions, if I were you." Mia stopped in front of another bed, where the occupant was sleeping. She dipped her eyebrows and looked at the back of his head like he was crazy.

"Yeah," she scoffed, "'Cause I'm _really_ gunna let you run around here giving all the patients the wrong antidotes!" she placed a bottle on the sleeping patient's bedside table, and left the ward. She didn't hear Remiel mutter something as she left.

"Fred? George?" she called, as she entered the flat.

"We're right here, Mia!" Fred replied from the table.

"Oh yeah!" Mia said, over enthusiastically. The twins rolled their eyes as she made her way to the kitchen, turning the kettle on. "Did you go to the station?" she asked as she chucked a tea bag into the cup.

"Yeah," Fred replied. Today the Hogwarts students had come home, "they seemed alright," Fred carried on.

"Alright?" George said, "Hermione left seconds after greeting us, Harry was even more reluctant to leave then normal, Ginny kept ten feet away from him, and Ron hardly said a word!"

"Ok," Fred said, "so… they were a little less then 'alright'." Mia rolled her eyes and tossed four spoons of sugar into the cup, and then the water. She walked slowly over to the sofa and sat next to George, curling up. He slung his arm around her shoulders as she sighed.

It was quiet for a minute, as they all stared off into space, then Fred reached forward for the paper on the other side of the table, and in doing so; he knocked over his cup of tea. He yelped and shot up out of the chair as the tea spread across the dull wood. Mia's eyes went wide as George leaned forward a bit. They all stared at the brown puddle as it started to drip onto the floor. Mia felt her lip twitch. George stopped breathing for a second. Fred pressed his lips together. They all broke and the sound of laughter filled the flat.

"You idiot," Mia gasped as Fred flicked his wand and cleaned up the mess. Mia leaned back into George and turned her head into his neck, still shaking with laughter. She felt his arm tighten around her shoulders and could picture Fred rolling his eyes.

"If you two are quite finished," she felt him jump onto the sofa.

"Fred," she said, dragging George's arm from her shoulders, "it's been a year," she slid George's arm around her waist, "get over it."

**Ok, I'm not really **_**too**_** happy with this chapter, but it's the last one, and I wanted to get it out there.**

**As just said, this **_**was**_** the last chapter- but, as I think you've probably guessed, I'm gunna do a story set during Deathly Hallows. And I have ideas running around in my head like a five year old on caffeine. Not that I've ever given five year old caffeine…**

**Anyways, a small note will be put up here when I've posted the first chapter of the next story, so keep your eyes peeled**

**Please Review! And maybe a word on how the story was over all?**


	13. Sequel

**Sequel: Time**

**Hey, just to tell you- the firs chapter to the sequel of Real is up. The stories called time. Here's the summery:**

**You-Know-Who has taken over the Ministry. And the Wizarding World. Muggle-borns are no longer safe. And neither are those labelled as Blood Traitors. Mia's time might just be running out. In fact, everyone's might be…**

**Oh, and thanks to: MarianneP, Lobo de Fuego, The Anon, GeorgeWeasleyIsMINE, bluemickey22, BlueNeutrino and vmkoliviah for reviewing!**


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